Incident at UK parliament being treated as terrorism incident, police said

THE 29-year-old driver of a Ford Fiesta tried to use his car as a weapon outside Britain’s parliament. This is what he did in the hours before the attack.

BRITISH counter-terrorism police are carrying out three searches in central England as part of their investigation after a car slammed into security barriers outside the UK Parliament in London.

The driver, a 29-year-old British man, was arrested on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act. He is being held under provisions in the UK’s Terrorism Act, and is being questioned at a south London police station.

Police say the silver Ford Fiesta, which was privately owned, had travelled from Birmingham to London late on Monday night (local time). It was then driven around the Westminster and Whitehall area from approximately 6am until the crash at 7:37am Tuesday.

Police say there have been no other arrests in connection with the investigation.

#BREAKING: London police say the suspect arrested after collision near Houses of Parliament is not cooperating with police and appears to have been a 'deliberate act' - @AP

— Alisha Ebrahimji (@AlishaEbrahimji) August 14, 2018

The incident occurred when the car smashed into the Parliament’s barriers, colliding with several cyclists and pedestrians.

Armed officers could then be seen surrounding the car before leading a man, understood to be the driver, away in handcuffs.

Dozens of emergency vehicles were seen swarming around Parliament Square with members of the public ordered to stay clear of the area.

Police on the scene lead a suspect away.

One of the victims was treated for minor injuries at the scene, while a man and a woman were taken to with non-life-threatening injuries.

Both were discharged overnight.

“We have treated two people at the scene for injuries that are not believed to be serious and have taken them to hospital,” London Ambulance said in a Twitter statement.

“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,” London Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said.

Although he had not been formally identified, the man was not believed to be known to police, Mr Basu added.

“There was nobody else in the vehicle, which remains at the scene and is being searched,” police said in a statement. “No weapons have been recovered at this stage.”

Heavily armed police inspect the car that crashed into the Parliament’s barriers. Picture: Good Morning Britain

A man has been arrested. Source: Sky News

UK Prime Minister Theresa May says in tweet that her thoughts are with those injured in the incident outside parliament.

Witness Jason Williams told ITV’s Good Morning Britain police were telling him to “get out, get out of the area”.

He described the incident as “very, very scary”, adding that he was feeling “very anxious”.

He said he’d seen a man driving a vehicle, “and he’s gone into one of the bollards.”

Mr Williams recalled a loud bang and immediately thought “Oh no, this is another terrorist attack.”

“So I’ve just started to run and the police were saying ‘get out, get out of the area’.

“It (the car) was behind me. I didn’t see anyone else involved. I just saw this one vehicle, so it seems to be deliberate.

Pedestrians hurt as car hits barrier at UK parliament, man arrested: https://t.co/nhoOnnvita pic.twitter.com/q6WUISjngx

— Reuters UK (@ReutersUK) August 14, 2018

“I was very surprised (the police didn’t go in straight away). They seemed to be standing back. They were obviously a bit wary, like what’s going to happen next?

The Telegraph reported another witness saying “it looked intentional — the car drove at speed and towards the barriers,” while another said he believed the car was travelling at up to 50mph.

BREAKING: a car seems to have crashed into Parliament, lot of police activity here! pic.twitter.com/JMIzzz0ATc

— Vincent McAviney (@VinnyMcAv) August 14, 2018

“I don’t know if it was a tip-off, a warning, that this was a bomb. There seems to be maybe about 200 police here now, and it’s all happened very quickly in the space of half an hour.”

Video footage shows smoke coming from the bonnet of the vehicle and police officers urging people to leave the scene and find alternative routes.

Reuters confirmed that streets around Parliament Square, Millbank and Victoria Tower Gardens have been cordoned off as dozens of armed police have swooped on the scene.

London-based TV journalist Vincent McAviney tweeted vision of the scene, saying there was “lots of police activity”.

Breakfast TV in the UK carried footage of police officers pointing rifles into the silver car after it crashed.

A silver car is seen smashed into the bollards outside the UK Parliament.