COMMENT

Counter-terrorism and urban security specialists have said it is “almost impossible” to prevent the kind of “low tech” attack carried out on London Bridge, warning that the proliferation of bollards and barriers on streetscapes would simply shift the threat elsewhere in British cities.

As Prime Minister Theresa May signalled a shift in tone following the latest atrocity, vowing to review the UK’S counter-terrorism strategy in the face of a “new trend” in extremist violence, experts said the targeting of busy thoroughfares posed a nearinsurmountable problem.

They said increasingly visible armed police patrols and improved intelligence was the only viable response. One respected defence analyst said efforts to protect busy streets would come down to “a question of scale”.

Those behind Saturday night’s attack hit pedestrians as their white van travelled at around 50mph along London Bridge, before three men left the vehicle and stabbed members of the public and police officers. The incident bears hallmarks of March’s attack in the capital, when Khalid Masood drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge.

Both attacks are consistent with a major increase in terrorism incidents the world over in which vehicles are used as weapons. The University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism said there have been more than 75 such attacks against civilian, police and military targets between 2014 and 2016.

Some terrorism experts

“With iconic public spaces you can put barriers in place, but you cannot erect walls or bollards around every pavement in the country”

TIM RIPLEY