They were stabbing everyone and shouting ‘this is for Allah’

LONDON: “They kept coming to try to stab me. They were stabbing everyone. Evil, evil people,” Gerard Vowls told a newspaper in the aftermath of a terror attack in central London.

Just minutes before terror struck, pubs in the popular Borough market were crammed with revellers enjoying a balmy summer night out in a trendy part of the city, many of them watching the Champions League final on big screens.

People enjoying their evening out near the River Thames told of how their night became a nightmare in seconds as they witnessed the attack unfold.

Vowls told The Guardian he saw a woman being stabbed by three men at the south end of London Bridge. He said he threw chairs, glasses and bottles at the attackers in a bid to stop them.

“They were running up and going ‘This is for Allah’... I want to know if this girl is still alive. I’ve been walking around for an hour and a half crying my eyes out. I don’t know what to do,” he said. Another witness Eric said he had seen three men come out of a white van after hitting pedestrians and thought they were going to help.

But instead they “started kicking them, punching them and took out knives. It was a rampage really,” he said, adding that he also heard a shout of: “This is for Allah”.

Taxi driver Chris saw men brandishing long knives emerging from the van. “Three men got out with long blades, 12 inches long and went randomly stabbing people.”