Donald Trump Jr is facing a backlash for criticising London mayor Sadiq Khan with a scornful tweet sent hours after an attack at the Houses of Parliament left five dead, including a police officer and the attacker.
The US president’s eldest son tweeted a link to a September 2016 story in the Independent, which quoted Khan saying terror attacks were “part and parcel of living in a big city … I want to be reassured that every single agency and individual involved in protecting our city has the resources and expertise they need to respond in the event that London is attacked.”
“You have to be kidding me?!” Trump Jr tweeted, quoting only the headline: “Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan”.
You have to be kidding me?!: Terror attacks are part of living in big city, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan https://t.co/uSm2pwRTjO
It’s unclear if the president’s son read the article or understood that the quote was from six months ago and not a response to the Wednesday attack, which police are treating as a terrorist incident.
The Hyundai driven by the attacker raced over Westminster Bridge, mounting the pavement and mowing down pedestrians. Three members of the public are now believed to have been killed here, and up to 40 injured.
The car then veered across a cycle lane and smashed into parliament’s perimeter wall. A man jumped out of the car and rushed through the gates into New Palace Yard where he fatally stabbed PC Keith Palmer. The attacker was then shot several times by armed officers.
What happened in Westminster was witnessed by a number of parliamentary journalists, whose offices immediately overlook New Palace Yard, the cobbled square through which many MPs and peers drive each day to access parliament’s underground carpark:
Quentin Letts, the Daily Mail’s parliamentary sketchwriter, has a desk near the window overlooking the yard; on hearing a loud crash and some screams, he told BBC news, he and his colleagues rushed to see what was happening.
“Then I saw a thick-set man dressed in black clothes, he looked I would say about 40 years old, I don’t think he had much hair, running … through the gates. He seemed to have something in his hand, a stick or something like that.”
A policeman who tried to challenge the man had fallen over, Letts said, “and the attacker was hitting him, possibly striking him or knifing him”. The weapon was a knife, and the stab wounds inflicted would prove fatal. The victim was later named as PC Keith Palmer, a 48-year-old officer with 15 years’ service who was a husband and father.
The attacker then ran towards the entrance of the parliament building that is used by MPs each day. “He got about 15 yards or so when he was shot by two plain-clothes men who had come out of the building, having been summoned by the uniformed police,” said Letts. Before shooting, they shouted something at the man, “and he appeared to ignore them and still ran towards them, and they shot him about three times”.
Australian PM pays tribute to 'mother of parliaments'
Gabrielle Chan
The Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has extended Australia’s “heartfelt sympathy and resolute solidarity” to the people of the UK.
The attack in the British parliament is an attack on parliaments, freedom and democracy everywhere.
Westminster is rightly known as the mother of parliaments.
Almost every element of our parliamentary tradition, here in Australia, is modelled on that of the houses of parliament in London.
We send our condolences, especially to the families of the victims, those injured, including a police officer murdered by the terrorist.
Turnbull said he had received briefings on the attack from Australia’s counter-terrorism coordinator, Tony Sheehan, and the high commissioner in London, Alexander Downer. He had also spoken to the Australian federal police commissioner and the director general of security, Duncan Lewis.
Turnbull added that there would be an increased police presence in Canberra’s Parliament House on Thursday.
Australians should be reassured that our agencies are today, as every day, working relentlessly to keep Australians safe.
We are very alert to the vulnerabilities of places of mass gathering and the risk of lone attackers, like the terrorist in London.
Keeping Australians safe is our highest priority. It is the first duty of my government.
The South Korean embassy in London has sent officials to two London hospitals where five South Korean victims are being treated, media in Seoul have reported. All of the injured South Koreans are believed to be aged in their 50s or 60s.
A South Korean foreign ministry official said the embassy had entered emergency mode since the terrorist attack, according to KBS World Radio. The report added that South Korean nationals travelling in the UK had been sent text messages alerting them about possible risks.
“Three of the four women and a man sustained relatively light injuries but the other woman sustained an injury to her head and underwent surgery at a nearby hospital,” KBS World Radio reported, saying the tourists were hurt when they were caught in a stampede of people fleeing the attack on Westminster Bridge.
The Seoul Shinmun, a daily broadsheet, reported that the 67-year-old female victim, who has been identified only as Park, was not directly injured by the vehicle driven deliberately by the attacker into pedestrians on the bridge, but fell to the floor. She is undergoing surgery at St Mary’s hospital, Paddington.
Park arrived in London a day earlier together with her husband and was scheduled to leave for Paris later on Wednesday, Yonhap news agency reported, citing officials.
Of the four other South Koreans injured in the incident, two required surgery due to a clavicle fracture or arm fracture, and the remaining two patients complained of pain, according to the Seoul Shinmum.
Donald Trump has tweeted for the first time about the attack on London (a tweet was earlier sent from the @Potus account, which is run by White House staff).
Spoke to U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May today to offer condolences on the terrorist attack in London. She is strong and doing very well.
Police officers across the UK have expressed sorrow at the death of PC Keith Palmer, Press Association reports:
Greater Manchester Police chief constable Ian Hopkins said: “RIP PC Keith Palmer, brutally murdered today carrying out his duty helping to protect parliament and the freedom of our country.”
The Metropolitan Police Federation, which represents officers from the force, said: “PC Keith Palmer. Our brave Met police colleague who today made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Edge Hill University, in Ormskirk, Lancashire, has confirmed that some of its students were injured on Westminster Bridge.
In a statement, the university said the group – believed to have been 13 students and their lecturer – had been visiting the capital on a field trip.
Two students were taken to hospital. Owen Lambert, 18, from Morecambe, Lancashire, needed stitches to a head wound, and Travis Frain from Darwen, who, according to a tweet from a local journalist, had a cracked rib plus hand and arm injuries. His mother, Angela Frain, confirmed he was in hospital:
I have spoken to him at 3.20pm and I know he’s OK. He’s at the hospital with a police officer. The police officer just said he was in good spirits.
Two other students are believed to have minor injuries but were not hospitalised. All others on the trip were safe and accounted for, the university said.
Dr John Cater, vice-chancellor of Edge Hill, told BBC North West Tonight:
They had just actually finished their session, were leaving the parliament building and in the Westminster Bridge area where we understand … they were involved in the incident.
We understand that two students have been taken to hospital but as walking wounded – one with a head wound and one with a wrist injury. There are two other students who have minor injuries who are with police and acting as witnesses.
The good news is that the other nine students are now back in a hostel receiving support and will return to the north-west tomorrow.
The details are invariably hazy … Our assumption is that they were either knocked over by other people or struck by the vehicle. Obviously all of them will be somewhat traumatised by what they have seen as well.
The students are due to return to Ormskirk on Thursday.
Five people are now confirmed to have died in the attack on Westminster on Wednesday: one police officer, three members of the public, and the attacker.
The police officer has been named as PC Keith Palmer, 48, a member of the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command, with 15 years’ service in the force. He was a husband and father.
The other victims of the attack, and the assailant, have not yet been identified.
Police said 40 other people were injured; many remain in hospital tonight, some in a serious condition.
Investigators say they believe they know the identity of the attacker, and that he is thought to have acted alone but was “inspired by international terrorism”.
