London crowd hit by vehicle

One arrested; incident near Muslim center revives terror fears.

LONDON — A vehicle drove into pedestrians near a Muslim center early today in London.

The Metropolitan Police called it “a major incident” and said a number of casualties were being treated at the scene. At least three or four people were injured, according to eyewitnesses who spoke to the BBC.

One person has been arrested. Witnesses said bystanders wrestled a person to the ground until officers arrived.

The incident, which the police were called to at 12:20 a.m., occurred on Seven Sisters Road in Finsbury Park, a neighborhood where many immigrants live.

Several reports on social media, which could not be immediately confirmed, said a van had crashed into pedestrians leaving the Muslim Welfare House, which offers karate and football classes and serves as a community center.

“Our prayers and thoughts with those injured outside Muslim Welfare House in Seven Sisters road hit by a van mounting pavement,” MEND, a nonprofit organization that fights Islamophobia and encourages British Muslims to get more involved in media and politics, wrote on Twitter.

The welfare center is also close to the Finsbury Park Mosque, which opened in 1994 and became a hotbed of Islamist militants, including Zacarias Moussaoui, a Frenchman convicted of conspiring to kill Americans as part of the Sept. 11 attacks, and Richard C. Reid, who attempted to down an American jetliner in late 2001 with explosives packed in his shoes.

In 2015, the mosque’s for-

mer imam, Mostafa Kamel Mostafa, was sentenced to life in prison in Federal District Court in Manhattan on 11 terrorism-related charges.

The mosque was raided by the authorities in January 2003, and in February 2005, it was completely reconstituted — “run by a new board of trustees with a new management team, new imams, a new name and new ethos,” according to its website. Five stories tall, with enough space for 1,800 worshipers, it is a major house of worship for North London, in an area known for a large immigrant population.

Mohammed Kozbar, the chairman of the Finsbury Park Mosque, said in a Twitter post that “our thoughts and prayers with those who got injured and effected by this cowardly attack in Finsbury Park area” and that there were “many casualties in the floor.”

The mosque states on its website: “The work of the new management reflects the proper role of a mosque — as a place of worship, religious learning and social interaction. It also presents the true teachings of Islam as a religion of tolerance, cooperation and peaceful harmony amongst all people who lead a life of balance, justice and mutual respect.”

The arrest revived fears in London, which has seen recent attacks with vehicles.

On March 22, a 52-year-old Briton rammed a car into a crowd of pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, fatally injuring four of them, and then stabbed a police officer to death before he was gunned down by police.

On June 3, three men drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge, before launching a knife attack in nearby Borough Market. Eight people were killed before the men were shot to death by the police.