The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Public praised for their restraint
Police: Locals who wrestled attack suspect to ground stopped others attacking him
Police and community leaders have praised those who restrained the van driver who mowed down worshippers near a mosque and stopped others from attacking him in anger.
Imam Mohammed Mahmoud was hailed for his efforts to calm the situation in the aftermath of the attack near the Finsbury Park Mosque in north London.
He guarded the man until the police arrived, telling the crowd: “Do not touch him.”
Other witnesses to the attack early yesterday morning have also described how they wrestled the suspected terrorist to the ground – but stopped others from hitting him until officers took over.
Adil Rana, 24, who was outside the mosque when the van drove towards the crowd, said the driver gestured towards and mocked the crowds as he was taken away by police.
He added: “When he got arrested, he was taunting, saying: ‘I’d do it again, I’d do it again.”’
Describing the initial moments after the van careered into pedestrians, he went on: “The driver jumped out and then he was pinned down and people were punching him and beating him, which was reasonable because of what he’s done. And then the imam actually came out and said: ‘Don’t hit him, hand him over to the police, pin him down’.”
Footage captured on mobile phones shows the driver being held on the ground as people call for police. A man can be heard urgently shouting: “No one touch him – no one! No one!”
A witness, who wanted to be identified as Abdulrahman,
“And then the guy came out of his van and I got him”
which is not his real name, said: “I managed to get the driver of the van. He wanted to run away and was saying: ‘I want to kill Muslims.’
“So he came back to the main road and I managed to get him to the ground and me and some other guys managed to hold him until the police arrived, for about 20 minutes I think, until the police arrived.”
Abdulrahman claimed the driver said: ‘Kill me’, as he was being held.
Eyewitness Hussain Ali, 28, said that, while being restrained, the man was protected by the people he is thought to have been targeting.
He said: “The leader of the mosque said: ‘You do not touch him’.”
Another witness, Abdikadar Warfa, said he helped to detain the suspect while his friends helped victims.
“I tried to stop him (the suspect), some people were hitting him but I said stop him, and keep him until the police came.
“He was trying to run away but people overpowered him. He was fighting to run away.”
Abdulrahman Saleh Alamoudi said he was among a group of people helping an elderly worshipper who had fallen down, perhaps because of the heat, when the van swerved towards them.
He said: “Luckily I managed to escape. And then the guy came out of his van and I got him. He was screaming, he was saying: ‘I’m going to kill all Muslims, I’m going to kill all Muslims.’”
Referring to the iman who stopped the crowd from attacking the suspect, Toufik Kacimi, chief executive of the Muslim Welfare House, said his “bravery and courage helped calm the immediate situation after the incident and prevented further injuries and potential loss of life”.
Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu also thanked members of the public.
The man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.