Politicians and community leaders from around London and the U.K. appealed for calm and unity, as the country contends with the aftermath of a terrorist attack at the heart of its democracy, yards from where members of both the House of Commons and Lords had gathered for parliamentary business on Wednesday.
Setting the tone of how London would not be cowed was the resumption of normal business at the Houses of Parliament.
”Beyond these walls today, in scenes repeated in towns and cities across the country, millions of people are going about their days and getting on with their lives… the streets are as busy as ever… the offices are full… it is these actions — millions of acts of normality — that we find the best response to terrorism,” said Prime Minister Theresa May. Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn called for communities to unite following the “appalling atrocity.”
“It behoves us not to rush to judgment… and not allow fear and the voices of hatred to divide or cower us… and be moved by that human impulse of solidarity to stand together in times of darkness and adversity.”
No to divisions
“We stand together in the face of those who seek to harm us and seek to destroy our way of life,” said London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The attacker who ran an SUV into pedestrians on a crowded London bridge and then stabbed a police officer to death on the grounds of Britain’s Parliament was earlier identified as British-born Khalid Masood (52).
Religious groups have also swiftly condemned the events, and called for unity. “The best response to this outrage is to make sure we come together in solidarity and not allow the terrorists to divide us,” said Harun Khan, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain while the Hindu Council U.K. warned that it would be “wrong to stir up hatred towards any religion or faith as a result of this attack…Tonight there will be many fearing reprisals.”
The Sikh Federation also issued a statement called for unity. “We join other peace loving people to condemn this attack.”
Right-wing rhetoric
While most individuals and organisations refrained from political points in the aftermath of the tragic events in London, Tommy Robinson, a former far-right, anti-Islam leader was widely condemned on social media for attempting to gain political capital at the scene of the attack, after launching into a verbal tirade, and an attack against Muslims in Britain online.
However, those voices appeared in the minority, as Twitter was flooded with messages of a commitment to unity and hashtags such as #WeStandTogether.
Virendra Sharma, the Labour MP for the ethnically diverse London constituency of Ealing Southall , who was one of those parliamentarians caught up in lockdown in the House of Commons chamber on Wednesday, told The Hindu that he had received messages of support from people and organisations across communities within his constituency.
“London communities are wise and strong and are committed to equality and unity… I have full confidence the general public will not listen to the right wing reactionaries — we cannot deny there is a threat from terrorism in our society but when we are united we can send a message that we don’t endorse their ideology or their message of hatred. That is the history of the people of London and I am sure they will carry on this tradition.”
London mourns victims
A minute’s silence was held in Parliament and at Scotland Yard on Thursday morning, and a vigil was set to take place in central London for the victims. The attack on London came exactly a year after the terrorist attack on Brussels, in which 32-people were killed in bomb attacks at the city’s airport and at a subway station in the Maelbeek area. Senior security figures have warned for a while that Britain had a number of factors that could limit terrorists’ abilities to inflict damage — such as strong gun control laws. But the use of tools such as vehicles pose new threats.
Last year it emerged that 12 attacks had been thwarted in the past two years alone, and hundreds of “live” cases were ongoing at any moment in time. The Soufan Group, a U.S.-based intelligence services company, said that while recent attacks in Europe lacked the “formal command and control” previously associated with terrorism, “most attackers have engaged in some level of communication, [with] members of groups such as the Islamic State or al Qaeda.”
