Security review ordered at Parliament after London attack

LONDON: An independent review of security at the Houses of Parliament following the London attack a week ago was announced Wednesday, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

The review was revealed in a joint statement by the speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow and the speaker of the House of Lords, Lord Fowler.

Their announcement came as thousands of people gathered on Westminster Bridge to commemorate the four people killed last Wednesday by Khalid Masood. Masood was shot and killed by armed police on duty at the parliament building.

Bercow and Fowler said they are seeking to make sure that any lessons are learned about the attack, which left police constable Keith Palmer fatally injured at the Houses of Parliament.

They have commissioned an external independent review of how the perimeter of the parliamentary estate is secured and protected. A preliminary report will be produced by the end of April.

Clerks in both chambers are commissioning an externallyled lessons learned review of the operation last week of Parliament’s Incident Management Framework, to report by the end of June, added the statement.

MPs in the House of Commons and peers in the unelected upper chamber, along with their staffs, are to be asked for their views and experiences as part of the review.

Members of the public were joined on Westminster Bridge by representatives of London’s emergency services, medics and nurses at exactly the same time of last week’s horrific attack.

Many of the policemen and policewomen who took part in the vigil clutched flowers.

The people crowded onto the bridge and held a minute’s silence in memory of the victims.

As well as the police officer, Masood also killed American tourist Kurt Cochran, 54, retired window cleaner Leslie Rhodes, 75, and mother- of-two Aysha Frade, 44, after he drove a hired car at high speed into pedestrians.

Dozens of pedestrians were injured.

An investigation by London’s Metropolitan Police into the attack is continuing. — Bernama