{"id":329404,"date":"2017-06-19T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2017-06-19T08:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=329404"},"modified":"2017-06-19T08:00:43","modified_gmt":"2017-06-19T08:00:43","slug":"one-dead-as-van-hits-pedestrians-near-uk-mosque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=329404","title":{"rendered":"One dead as van hits pedestrians near UK mosque"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man has died and eight people have been injured after a van ploughed into pedestrians near a north London mosque.<\/p>\n

The van mounted the pavement and struck a group of people just after midnight near Finsbury Park Mosque in Seven Sisters Road. A 48-year-old man has been arrested.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Theresa May said police were treating it “as a potential terrorist attack”.<\/p>\n

The Muslim Council of Britain said a van intentionally ran over worshippers.<\/p>\n

Counter terrorism officers are at the scene, the Metropolitan Police said.<\/p>\n

Many of the victims are believed to have just left evening prayers at the Muslim Welfare House after breaking the Ramadan fast.<\/p>\n

The MCB said it was a “violent manifestation of Islamophobia” and called for extra security around mosques.<\/p>\n

The PM will chair an emergency meeting later.<\/p>\n

‘Assault on values’<\/h2>\n

She described it as a “terrible incident”, adding: “All my thoughts are with those who have been injured, their loved ones and the emergency services on the scene.”<\/p>\n

Extra police are being deployed to reassure communities, especially those observing Ramadan, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said.<\/p>\n

He has also asked people to “remain calm and vigilant”.<\/p>\n

He said: “We don’t yet know the full details, but this was clearly a deliberate attack on innocent Londoners, many of whom were finishing prayers during the holy month of Ramadan.<\/p>\n

“While this appears to be an attack on a particular community, like the terrible attacks in Manchester, Westminster and London Bridge it is also an assault on all our shared values of tolerance, freedom and respect.”<\/p>\n

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The van driver was arrested after being detained by members of the public at the scene following the collision at 00:20 BST.<\/p>\n

Police said there were no reports of anyone suffering from knife injuries after speculation at the scene the driver was armed with a knife.<\/p>\n

Abdulrahman Saleh Alamoudi said he was among a group of people helping an elderly worshipper who had fallen down when the van swerved towards them.<\/p>\n

Video posted online of the aftermath showed a scene of chaos as people tried to help the injured.<\/p>\n

One man could be seen giving CPR to a victim in the street while another man’s head injury was treated with a makeshift dressing.<\/p>\n

An eyewitness told how he jumped out the way of the van as it struck.<\/p>\n

He said: “He just came into all of us. There was a lot of people. We got told to move straight away.<\/p>\n

“I was shocked, shocked, shocked. There were bodies around me.<\/p>\n

“Thank God I just moved to the side. I just jumped. Everyone is hurt. Everyone is actually hurt.”<\/p>\n

Another who lives in a flat on Seven Sisters Road told the BBC she saw people “shouting and screaming”.<\/p>\n

“Everyone was shouting ‘a van’s hit people’.<\/p>\n

“There was this white van stopped outside Finsbury Park Mosque that seems to have hit people who were coming out of the mosque after prayers finished.”<\/p>\n

She said the road was “backed up” with police cars, ambulance and fire engines.<\/p>\n

Some witnesses at the scene – near Finsbury Park Station and the Emirates stadium – said more than one attacker may have been involved.<\/p>\n

But the Met said: “At this early stage of this investigation, no other suspects at the scene have been identified or reported to police, however the investigation continues.”<\/p>\n

Labour leader and Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn said on Twitter: “I’m totally shocked at the incident at Finsbury Park tonight.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been in touch with the mosques, police and Islington council regarding the incident. My thoughts are with those and the community affected by this awful event.”<\/p>\n

‘Horrible to watch’<\/h2>\n

London Ambulance Service deputy director of operations Kevin Bate said: “We have sent a number of ambulance crews, advance paramedics and specialist responses teams to the scene.<\/p>\n

“An advance trauma team from London’s Air Ambulance has also been dispatched by car.<\/p>\n

“We are working closely with other members of the emergency services at the scene.<\/p>\n

\"Muslim<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“Our priority is to assess the level and nature of injuries and ensure those in the most need are treated first and taken to hospital.”<\/p>\n

Witness Cynthia Vanzella said on Twitter: “Horrible to watch police officers doing cardiac massage at people on the floor, desperately trying to save them. I just hope they did.”<\/p>\n

The MCB said its “prayers are with the victims.”<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A man has died and eight people have been injured after a van ploughed into pedestrians near a north London mosque. The van mounted the pavement and struck a group of people just after midnight near Finsbury Park Mosque in Seven Sisters Road. A 48-year-old man has been arrested. Prime Minister Theresa May said police […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[8325,7544,8326],"class_list":["post-329404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international","tag-finsbury-park-mosque","tag-muslims","tag-vehicle-accident"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=329404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329404\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=329404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=329404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=329404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}