USA TODAY International Edition
‘ We all live together in this place’
Unity and anger mix in Finsbury Park, site of latest hate attack
For the past six years, Abdul Ahmad has told friends that his ethnically diverse neighborhood of Finsbury Park was safe from violence or terrorism. The only thing people disagreed about is which rival soccer team to support, Arsenal or Tottenham.
Any notion of this north London enclave being immune from terrorist attacks was shattered early Monday after a van swerved into a group of Muslim worshipers leaving evening prayers, injuring nine people. One man died at the scene. He had been receiving first aid when the attack happened, but it was not clear whether his death was a result of the assault, the fourth terrorist attack on England in three months.
The driver of the van, Darren Osborne, 47, a father of four from Cardiff, Wales, was arrested on suspicion of terror- related offenses. Witnesses said he shouted, “I’m going to kill all Muslims — I did my bit,” after ramming the van into the pedestrians.
The suspect had not been known to authorities.
“It’s scary and difficult to understand,” said Ahmad, 28, a Somalian refugee, as he stood near the crime scene Monday that was roped off by police. “You run away from a dangerous place like Somalia, only for the danger to be still there with you. The world seems very small right now.”
The mixed- income neighborhood reacted with solidarity, as has become commonplace after terrorist attacks in Europe and elsewhere. There was also sorrow — and revulsion — over another assault on British soil.
“We all live together in this place, and we are proudly multicultural,” said Hanaja Fischer, 65, an Orthodox Jew standing in the shade of a tree by Finsbury Park’s busy subway station as London’s temperature soared to an unseasonably hot 90 degrees.
“Somebody just decided to do a very stupid thing. You can use anything as a weapon now. Normally, everyone gets along very well here,” Fischer said.
The harmony described by Fischer, Ahmad and others wasn’t shared by all in this community where the attack occurred.
Students Ijeoma Mbnye and Aisha Amir, both 17, stood on a street corner holding signs that read, “# United against all terror,” but their message was accompanied by frustration at growing Islamaphobia.
Muslim leaders reported a rise in hate crimes in Britain af-
LONDON British Prime Minister Theresa May condemned Monday’s apparent terror attack on Muslim worshipers near a north London mosque as “sickening” and vowed to stamp out extremist and hateful ideology “across society and on the Internet.”
May spoke hours after a van slammed into a crowd outside Finsbury Park Mosque, injuring at least nine people. British media identified the suspect as Darren Osborne, 47, a father of four from Cardiff, Wales.
Witnesses told British media the suspect was shouting “Kill me, I’ve done my job” after the incident. He was detained by members of the public until police arrived, the Metropolitan Police said. He was arrested for “the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder,” police said.
One man had been receiving first aid at the scene when the attack took place. Police said the man died but that it was not immediately clear whether his death was linked to the attack.
British Security Minister Ben Wallace told the BBC the suspect was not known to authorities and was believed to have acted alone.
The tragedy comes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and follows three terror incidents in Britain in as many months. The other attacks were carried out by radicalized Muslims, and the Islamic State has claimed responsibility.
May said police officers arrived on the scene within a minute and that police declared the attack an act of terrorism a few minutes later. All the victims were members of the Muslim community, police said.
“This was an attack on Muslims near their place of worship,” May said in remarks outside her Downing Street office. “And like all terrorism, in whatever form, it shares the same fundamental goal. It seeks to drive us apart; and to break the precious bonds of solidarity and citizenship that we share in this country. We will not let this happen.”
May later visited the mosque, meeting both with Muslims and representatives from a variety of faiths.
Eyewitness Abdul Rahman told the BBC that the driver of the van said he wanted to “kill all Muslims.” Rahman told the British broadcaster that he hit the suspect and helped subdue him.
“I hit him on his stomach ... and then me and the other guys ... we held him to the ground until he couldn’t move. We stopped him until the police came,” Rah- man said.
The London Ambulance Service said it transported nine patients to three London hospitals and treated others with lesser injuries at the scene.
Khadijh Sherazi, a Muslim who lives next door to Osborne, told The Guardian she never had problems with the suspect until he racially abused her son just days ago.
“He seemed a normal bloke, a normal family, normal kids, happy- go- lucky,” she said. “He would also shout quite a lot, but the kids seemed happy. I wouldn’t have said he was someone with mental problems.”
Harun Khan, a leader of the Muslim Council of Britain, described the incident as a hate crime against Muslims and called for extra security around mosques.
“Many will feel terrorized, no doubt be angry and saddened by what has taken place tonight,” Khan said. “We urge calm as the investigation establishes the full facts, and in these last days of Ramadan, pray for those affected and for justice.”
Police Commissioner Cressida Dick called for calm. She said extra officers on duty to reassure residents would be patrolling the city, particularly at Muslim places of worship.
The Finsbury Park Mosque was associated with extremist ideology for several years after the 9/ 11 attacks in the United States but was shut down and reorganized. It has not been associated with radical views for more than a decade.
The van attack is the latest in a string of tragedies for the nation. This month, a van plowed into pedestrians on London Bridge, after which three men entered a market wielding knives. Eight people were killed and many wounded, and three Muslim extremists who carried out the attack were killed by police.
In late May, a suicide bomber killed more than 20 people after a concert in Manchester. And in March, a driver plowed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, causing four deaths, then exited the vehicle and stabbed a police officer to death.
Monday’s incident also comes as Britain was coming to terms with a high- rise fire that killed scores. Chronic mismanagement and disregard for fire safety measures by the building’s landlord are suspected in that case.
“This attack comes at a difficult time for the city,” May said.
The fire, plus the recent terror attacks, have stretched British authorities and left May’s government, which suffered losses in a snap election this month, reeling. May has refused to step down and is trying to build a majority coalition.
She remained resolute Monday.
“Diverse, welcoming, vibrant, compassionate, confident and determined never to give in to hate — these are the values that define this city,” she said.
“We urge calm as the investigation establishes the full facts.” Harun Khan, a leader of the Muslim Council of Britain