Westminster car crash: Man arrested on suspicion of terror offences

[Nigglyb]

A man has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after a car crashed outside the Houses of Parliament.

The vehicle swerved into cyclists and pedestrians shortly after 07:30 BST, injuring three people.

The suspect, in his late 20s, is not believed to be known to MI5 or counter-terrorism police, and is not co-operating with officers.

One woman is being treated in hospital for serious but non life-threatening injuries.

Scotland Yard's head of counter terrorism Neil Basu said: "Given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method and this being an iconic site, we are treating it as a terrorist incident."

He added there was "no intelligence at this time of further danger" to London or the UK as a whole.

The suspect, who has not been formally identified, is being held at a south London police station and the vehicle is being searched.

No-one else was in the car and no weapons have been found. The government's Cobra emergency committee is meeting later.



A number of eyewitnesses have said the silver Ford Fiesta, which was travelling westbound, appeared to deliberately hit members of the public as it swerved into the opposite lane.

Footage released by the BBC shows the moment when the car drives over a pedestrian crossing before crashing into the security barriers. A police officer can be seen jumping over another barrier to get out of the way.



Westminster tube station is closed for entry and exit, and streets around Millbank and Parliament Square have been cordoned off.

Parliament is not currently sitting.

A London Ambulance Service spokesman said two people had been taken to hospital with "injuries that are not believed to be serious", while a third patient with minor injuries was assessed at the scene.

One of those taken to hospital, a man, has since been discharged



BBC News home affairs correspondent June Kelly described the terror arrest as a "significant development".

"The police will be looking at this man's background, his identity," she said. "They will be looking at his beliefs, his associates, also his mental state."

[vincemunday]

Curiouser and curiouser....

https://twitter.com/guidofawkes/status/ ... 01280?s=21

[stattointhailand]

Van was obviously carrying Donald Trumps fake news reporters

[tamada]

Curiouser and curiouser....

https://twitter.com/guidofawkes/status/ ... 01280?s=21

Special Branch.

Nothing to see here... move along now.

[vincemunday]

So if special branch were suspicious that an attack was imminent why didn't they stop it, and why were they following him if he was unknown to them?

[Stantheman]

Curiouser and curiouser....

https://twitter.com/guidofawkes/status/ ... 01280?s=21

So a van is going in the same direction as the terrorists vehicle, theres a possible "accident" and van driver sees this and comes over to the "accident", so very suspicious, I think not.

[stattointhailand]

Curiouser and curiouser....

https://twitter.com/guidofawkes/status/ ... 01280?s=21

So a van is going in the same direction as the terrorists vehicle, theres a possible "accident" and van driver sees this and comes over to the "accident", so very suspicious, I think not.

Thirty years or so ago and you may be right Stan, but not anymore .............. "get the f*** out of here" is now the norm, before I'm on some Trumped (no excuse) up charge of causing harm by trying to assist a victim

[tamada]

So if special branch were suspicious that an attack was imminent why didn't they stop it, and why were they following him if he was unknown to them?

From The Telegraph (not sure how you would rate that rag... but that's not important).

"Westminster 'terror attack': Suspect 'staked out Parliament and was spooked into ramming cyclists"

"A terror suspect is believed to have traveled through the night from Birmingham to stake out Westminster for more than an hour and a half before mowing down cyclists outside the Houses of Parliament, it emerged on Tuesday night.

The 29-year-old man, named on Tuesday night as Salih Khater who is believed to be of Sudanese origin, waited until rush hour before swerving on to the wrong side of the road and hitting cyclists who were waiting at the traffic lights. He then crashed into barriers outside the entrance to the House of Lords.

The man, who is a UK national, had driven from his home in Birmingham before allegedly using his car as a weapon, sparking suggestions that it was an attempted..."

So, as I surmised, the mysterious silver van was probably special branch who were tailing the car that was being driven in a suspicious manner. They didn't know it was being driven by a Brummie (yet).

I guess the trick is waiting for the news to come forth rather than wasting time with the likes of guidofawkes? I know, I know, being +6 hours can take some getting used to. Get some sleep is my advice and all will be revealed.

Or you can carry on speculating like some opinionated twittering guy in the US who despite his aura of all-knowing and all-seeing, is perpetually -12 hours to everything really important like where's the bloody English teabags at Tesco-Lotus these days?!

[vincemunday]

Says the man who reads the Independent and actually owns up to it! By the by, once again you're spouting complete nonsense, since when did saying curiouser and curiouser count as speculation? In fact the only speculation was the assumption it was special branch (by yourself) and what's more I still find it very odd that the van followed the car so purposely but without urgency whether the video originated from the BBC or Guido Fawkes and what the heck has the time difference got to do with anything or is that you trying and once again failing to be a smart arse?

[tamada]

Says the man who reads the Independent and actually owns up to it! By the by, once again you're spouting complete nonsense, since when did saying curiouser and curiouser count as speculation? In fact the only speculation was the assumption it was special branch (by yourself) and what's more I still find it very odd that the van followed the car so purposely but without urgency whether the video originated from the BBC or Guido Fawkes and what the heck has the time difference got to do with anything or is that you trying and once again failing to be a smart arse?

Only you seem to give a ---- vince.

Your panties are showing BTW.

[vincemunday]

Oh so not special branch then? Tut... damn and there was me thinking... nuh not really...

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/w ... 12901.html

[tamada]

Oh so not special branch then? Tut... damn and there was me thinking... nuh not really...

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/w ... 12901.html

You waited a couple of days until more news was available. News that includes the startling revelations (to some) that he probably wasn't a radicalized lone-wolf Muslim immigrant after all. Bummer, eh?

Anyway that's good that you waited vince, that's very good. Well done.

[vincemunday]

i just can't be arsed..

[tamada]

i just can't be arsed..

white-flag.jpg (8.42 KiB) Viewed 1063 times

From the glibly dismissed Independent...

Westminster crash not thought to be terrorism, investigators believe
Exclusive: Sources say there no evidence has yet emerged that Salih Khater had been radicalised into Islamist extremism

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/h ... 96716.html

Meanwhile, the whole story has virtually disappeared from the Telegraph. I think the journalistic term is 'buried'.

[vincemunday]

It’s hardly surrender it’s absolute boredom of dealing with someone who doesn’t have the intelligence to follow a thread, nowhere do I say he’s a terrorist, nowhere do I form any opinion whatsoever, in fact you are the only person who did, I don’t even really know where you get the Telegraph thing from. Glibly dismiss the independent? You bet, but of course that’s not just me, it’s readership is almost nil now and if it wasn’t for it’s rich Arab owner it would have gone pop a long time ago, they’re famed for extremely biased reporting along with the other Lefty paper the Guardian.

[tamada]

vince, I was having a go at your peripatetic fist-pumps on the 'other thread' after Trump weighed in on the extremely dangerous and overwhelming extreme Muslin radical threat in London and the UK. I mean it's yuge, ennit?

Sorry if you couldn't keep up vince but only too glad to help.

[vincemunday]

Your inane stupidity never ceases to amaze me, you concoct bull crap to quantify your rather brainless attempts at being the smart guy, forget it tam no one falls for it. There IS a huge problem in London and other parts of the U.K. but what has that got to do with this thread? The fact is I haven’t passed any comment on whether this guy was a terrorist or otherwise but you have to spout bollocks, it’s in your make up I guess.

[tamada]

Lot's of smart verbs there vince, fairly good composition too. Mostly vacuous (what's new eh?) but when strung all together, it does tend to make you look otherwise.

Thanks for playing vince. But make sure you stay in the shallow end ok?

[vincemunday]

More quips and bluster to make yourself look clever without actually answering anything or adding to the thread, you are tediously boring.

[tamada]

More quips and bluster to make yourself look clever without actually answering anything or adding to the thread, you are tediously boring.

vince.

Today I added that the UK authorities are seriously downplaying the whole "terrorist" aspect of this event that got you and DJT all riled up. Albeit this being from a news source that you erroneously choose to grade my intelligence on. BTW, you are the one that brought up my quotes from the Independent in ANOTHER totally unrelated thread to this thread, not me.

BTW, what do you use to grade your intelligence? A dip stick? I'll pass on the obvious "you're 2 quarts low." For now anyway.

Look vince, obviously it's a very quiet weekend for you and if you find this 'tediously boring', I guess you're not into fishing either. Equally obviously, you're a last-word kind of guy.

So have at it.

But watch the blood pressure. OK?