Minister says Britain ‘bruised but not broken’ after terrorist attacks
Print Edition
POLICE were yesterday questioning a man suspected of deliberately mowing down Muslims in London, as a minister said Britain was “bruised but not broken” by a series of terror attacks.
Britain was coming to terms with the aftermath of its fourth bloody assault in three months following Monday’s van attack on worshippers leaving the Finsbury Park Mosque in north London.
The string of attacks had “bruised but not broken the heart of this great nation,” Home Secretary Amber Rudd said.
The family of Darren Osborne, the man suspected of deliberately driving into the Muslim group, said he was “troubled,” describing his action as “sheer madness.”
Osborne, 47, a father of four from Cardiff, was arrested.
Police believe the suspect acted alone and searches were being conducted at a residential address in the Welsh capital.
Police are treating the incident as a terror attack and British Prime Minister Theresa May described it as “sickening,” vowing to fight extremism in all its forms.
The attack raised fears of retaliation against Muslims after a series of deadly assaults in Britain by Islamist extremists.
One man who was already receiving first aid at the time died following the assault, while nine people were taken to hospital and two others were treated for minor injuries.
“I’m sorry that my brother has been that troubled that it has taken him to this level of troubledness,” said the suspect’s sister Nicola Osborne.
“He has just been troubled for a long time.”
His mother Christine, 72, said she screamed when she saw her son in TV footage. “My son is no terrorist — he’s just a man with problems,” The Sun quoted her as saying.
In a statement on behalf of his family, his nephew Ellis Osborne, 26, said: “We are massively shocked. Our hearts go out to the people who have been injured.” His uncle was “not a racist,” he said. “It’s madness. It is obviously sheer madness.”
Londoners bearing flowers and messages of solidarity gathered at the scene of the attack on Monday night, some carrying signs reading “United Against All Terror.”
Another vigil was being held yesterday.
The van driver was pinned down by locals before being shielded from retaliatory violence by an imam and detained by police.
The man suspected of driving the van was arrested on suspicion of “the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder,” police said.
London police chief Cressida Dick said the incident was “quite clearly an attack on Muslims” and promised a stepped-up police presence near mosques as the holy month of Ramadan draws to a close.
Rudd said Muslims needed to feel safe in Britain and the government was working to tackle all forms of hate crime and extremism.
“Indicative figures suggest that over half of those who experience hate because of their religion are Muslim. Any hate crime is unacceptable but this stark figure is something we will not shy away from,” she wrote in The Guardian.
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