Quentin Letts, the Daily Mail’s parliamentary sketchwriter, said he saw a man in black attack a police officer outside Parliament before being shot two or three times as he tried to storm into the House of Commons, the Press Association reports.
“I saw a thick-set man in black clothes come through the gates into New Palace Yard, just below Big Ben,” he told the BBC.
He had something in his hand, it looked like a stick of some sort, and he was challenged by a couple of policemen in yellow jackets.
And one of the yellow-jacketed policemen fell down and we could see the man in black moving his arm in a way that suggested he was stabbing or striking the yellow-jacketed policeman.
The other officer ran to get help and the man in black ran about 15 yards towards the entrance, he said. He added:
As this attacker was running towards the entrance two plain-clothed guys with guns shouted at him what sounded like a warning, he ignored it and they shot two or three times and he fell.
I’m outside Downing Street - 200 metres from Parliament Square - where police are in force and there is a nervy mood. Met officers have taped off the pavement and are clearing the public - tourists, workers, passersby - back towards Trafalgar Square.
Unmarked police vehicles have blocked off the road to parliament at Horse Guards Parade. A helicopter is flying low above the Foreign Office and the PM’s residence. Trafalgar Square is a log-jam of buses and cars.
“It’s a serious incident, sir. Please keep moving,” one officer said.
I’m at the police cordon at Victoria Street and Parliament Square.
Police are telling the public to move back for their own safety. One constable said there were “various serious incidents going on. It’s not safe to be around here at the moment”. The police are clearly agitated.
There’s an air ambulance and about 15 police vehicles in the otherwise deserted square. Outside Westminster Abbey, groups of tourists are taking snaps oblivious of this afternoon’s incident.
A senior police source has confirmed that Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command was involved in an investigation following this afternoon’s incidents.
The early police view emerging from the chaos is that there were probably two sites of attack: Westminster Bridge where people may have been run over, and parliament itself, where it appears an officer was stabbed and the attacker shot.
Plans for a London-wide emergency have been put into place as a precaution. Police are hopeful the incidents are over.
Theresa May, the prime minister, was rushed into a car 40 yards from the gates outside parliament where shots were fired minutes after the incident occurred, according to footage filmed by a member of staff.
She was ushered by at least eight armed undercover police, some with their firearms drawn, into a waiting black vehicle in Speaker’s Court, the footage seen by the Guardian shows. Loud bangs can be heard in the background as she is ushered into the car, but it is unclear whether the bangs were gunshots.
There have been two serious incidents near the British parliament.
Police have confirmed they are currently treating the events as a terrorist incident.
A police officer has been stabbed inside the gate of the Houses of Parliament in central London, the Commons leader, David Lidington, has said.
The Guardian understands that a police officer has been killed in the attack.
The alleged assailant was shot by armed police following a “serious” incident.
There are further reports of a car driving into a number of people on Westminster Bridge, before driving into the railings of the Palace of Westminster.
Police fear the number of injured is in “double digits”. The London Ambulance Service confirmed they have treated ten victims.
Westminster is currently in lockdown with MPs told to remain in the main chamber or in their offices.
Scotland Yard said it was called to a firearms incident on Westminster Bridge amid reports of several people injured.
Transport for London said Westminster underground station has been shut at the police’s request.
The aftermath of the apparent knife attack, which seemingly saw the attacker shot by police, could be seen in Old Palace Yard, the courtyard directly outside parliament.
At least one person could be seen prone on the ground, tended to by ambulance staff. An air ambulance landed on the grass of Parliament Square, and medical crews rushed in. However, they soon stepped back, and there was no sign of anyone being taken away.
While police looked clam, dozens of armed officers could be seen in the area. At one point, a group of about a dozen officers armed with guns arrived, some also carrying shields. They marched into parliament.
