Victims of London Bridge terror attack remembered one year on
May has led a minute’s silence in memory of the victims of the London Bridge terror attack.
The Prime Minister joined London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick in a remembrance service a year on from the atrocity which left eight innocent people dead.
Victims’ families and friends laid flowers near the scene as the names of the dead were read out.
Crowds, including members of the emergency services, then fell silent to remember those killed and injured when a terrorist trio drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge, before stabbing revellers in nearby Borough Market with 12-inch ceramic knives.
Khuram Butt (27), Rachid Retempt douane (30) and Youssef Zaghba (22) were shot dead by police just eight minutes after the first emergency call was made.
At Southwark Needle, close to the scenes of the atrocity, those injured and the dignitaries, who included Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Home Secretary Sajid Javid, were invited to lay flowers.
A service of commemoration was held at Southwark Cathedral earlier on Saturday, where Dean Andrew Nunn told the congregation: “I hope it helps our healing.
“Whatever your hopes are, whatever your pain is, whatever has kept you awake at night, whatever anger, sorrow or guilt you are feeling: God is here for you. Love is stronger than hate, light is stronger than darkness and life is stronger than death.
“It was true a year ago. It is as true today.”
Family members of those who died lit candles in memory of their loved ones and the 700-strong congregation held a minute’s silence.
After the service, an olive tree — known as the Tree of Healing — was planted in the cathedral grounds using compost from floral tributes left on the bridge following the murders last year.
Before the commemoration, the Prime Minister recalled the “stories of courage” which emerged from the attack.
She called it a “cowardly atTHERESA to strike at the heart of our freedoms by deliberately targeting people enjoying their Saturday night with friends and family”.
Those killed in the attack were Canadian Christine Archibald (30), James McMullan (32) from Hackney, Frenchmen Alexandre Pigeard (26), Sebastien Belanger (36) and Xavier Thomas (45), Australians Kirsty Boden (28) and Sara Zelenak (21), and Spaniard Ignacio Echeverria (39).