The terrorists do not get to win.. they don’t get to change our way of life
THE terrorists who struck on Saturday night intended not only to get London Bridge to fall down, but our nation’s spirit, too.
They achieved the opposite. London Bridge has not fallen down, and nor have we.
Instead, a stronger, more united spirit was born there.
As in Manchester a fortnight ago, Londoners fought back against terror with a truly British blend of defiance, compassion, unity and even a dose of our black humour.
Yesterday, #LondonBridgeisnotfallingdown was trending on Twitter.
At one Tube station, a scrawled message on the board read: “London Bridge will never fall down – you can’t break our spirit.”
But it was actions that truly underlined that resolution.
Actions like those of staff at the Arabica Bar and Kitchen, in Borough Market, who protected customers by quickly barricading them inside.
Diner Richard Angell said a waiter jammed the door with his foot to make sure it stayed closed, then staff upturned tables for people to hide behind.
He is now determined to repay that bravery by returning to the restaurant and finishing the meal he started.
“I’ll be going back to the same restaurant to finish my meal, pay my bill and give then a double tip. They cared about us,” he said.
London is criticised as a city where people don’t chat on the Tube, or even to neighbours. But on Saturday night, that changed.
Taxi drivers emerged as a hidden army in the face of emergency.
One cabbie, who declined to give his name, attempted to mow down the three knifemen with his car on Borough High Street.
Cabbies picked up the pieces, ferrying people to safety.
Student nurse Rhiannon Owen said she owed her life to a quick-thinking driver.
The 19-year-old, from Cheshire, said: “People started running. I said, ‘What’s going on?’. Then a taxi driver swerved in front of me and said, ‘You need to run.’”
As the taxis rallied round, so too did the hotels, taking in those who were evacuated.
And as in Manchester, Facebook flooded with messages from those who lived in the area offering beds, food, and phone chargers.
Staff at a Sainsbury’s gave out food and drinks to police yesterday morning.
When Londoner Annie Leary lost her home in Southwark, close to yesterday’s attack, in the Blitz in 1940, she said: “Hitler cannot break a Cockney’s heart.”
London’s heart is still beating strong.