British election campaign resumes after deadly attacks
After a deadly militant attack on London Bridge, British Prime Minister Theresa May resumes campaigning on Monday just three days before a national election which polls show is much tighter than previously predicted.
May said Britain must be tougher in stamping out Islamist extremism after three knife-wielding assailants rammed a hired van into pedestrians on London Bridge and stabbed others nearby, killing seven people and injuring 48.
After the third militant attack in Britain in less than three months, May said Thursday’s election would go ahead but said Britain had been far too tolerant of extremism.
“Violence can never be allowed to disrupt the democratic process,” May, who served as interior minister from 2010 to 2016, said outside her Downing Street office.
Islamic State, which is losing territory in Syria and Iraq to an offensive backed by a US-led coalition, said its militants were responsible for the attack, according to the group’s media agency Amaq.
Islamist militants have carried out scores of deadly attacks in Europe, Russia, West Asia, Africa, Asia and the United States over the past two years.
In an early morning raids in east London, British counterterrorism police detained more people on Monday. Police arrested 12 people in the Barking district of east London following the attack, though one was later released.
Police have not released the names of the attackers and British newspapers refrained from identifying the men. It was not immediately clear how the attack would impact the election, though the issue of security has been thrust to the forefront of the campaign after the London Bridge and Manchester attacks.
The campaign was suspended for several days last month when a suicide bomber killed 22 people at a concert by Ariana Grande in Manchester.
Grande gave an emotional performance on Sunday at a benefit gig in the city for the victims of the attack, singing with a choir of local schoolchildren, including some who had been at her show.
Before the London Bridge attack, May’s gamble on a June 8 snap election had been thrust into doubt after polls showed her Conservative Party’s lead had collapsed in recent weeks.
While British pollsters all predict May will win the most seats in Thursday’s election, they have given an array of different numbers for how big her win will be, ranging from a landslide victory to a much more slender win without a majority.