The city that refused to be cowed
As three terrorists ran amok with 30cm blades, the people of London fought back with chairs, bottles … and aid for the victims. Foreign Correspondent Samanth Subramanian reports
On an early summer evening in London, the pubs and restaurants of Borough Market were full of laughter and chatter.
Although it was less than two weeks since the suicide bombing in Manchester that killed 22 people, terrorism was not uppermost in most people’s minds – except for the three men who were about to unleash murder and mayhem.
Borough Market, on the south bank of the Thames, is hugely popular with Londoners and tourists, drawing shoppers to its stalls by day and revellers to its bars and restaurants by night. On Saturday it was particularly lively as football fans packed the pubs to watch the Champions League final.
The first sign that something was wrong came when a flurry of smashed concrete fell on the market from London Bridge, where a van had just crashed into the railings.
Three attackers in the van had driven at high speed into pedestrians on the bridge. Footage from the dashboard camera of a taxi that stopped on the bridge soon after the incident showed at least a dozen pedestrians lying injured or immobile on the road, with policemen and emergency paramedics tending to them.
After crashing the van, the at- tackers ran into Borough Market and embarked on a stabbing spree. Eight minutes later, the assailants were dead, all shot by police. But they had still had time to kill seven people and injure 48.
A couple, who called themselves Ben and Natalie, told BBC Radio 5 that they were just emerging from a train station when they saw one man stabbing another with a long knife.
“We saw people running away, and then I saw a man in red with a large blade, at a guess 10 inches [25cm] long, stabbing a man about three times,” Ben said. “It looked like the man had been trying to intervene, but there wasn’t much he could do. He was being stabbed quite coldly and he slumped to the ground.”
Several witnesses described the men’s knives as at least a foot [ 30cm] long. As the attack progressed through other restaurants and pubs, patrons tried to stall the attackers by throwing cutlery and chairs at them.
One of the first on the scene was an off- duty policeman. He was stabbed as he tackled one of the attackers and is in critical condition. Armed only with his baton, an officer with the British Transport Police faced down the attackers. He was seriously injured but is stable in hospital.
Chief constable Paul Crowther said the officer showed “outstanding” bravery.
Many people ran into The Sheaf, a cellar pub. With about 100 people seeking refuge inside, the bouncers locked the doors. Although some of those who had fled there spoke of a stabbing, others talked about a hit-and-run attack by a lorry. One unidentified woman, described as “heroic” by a taxi driver who was at the scene, closed the doors to the Black and Blue restaurant and held them shut long enough for at least 20 people to escape through a rear exit.
Giovanni Sagristani, 38, was in the El Pastor restaurant when a man stormed in and attacked a woman.
“He came in shouting and just stabbed her,” he told the BBC. Mr Sagristani and other diners chased the attacker out of the restaurant by throwing chairs and bottles at him, while Carlos Pinto, a critical-care nurse, used ice and cloths to stop the victim’s bleeding. He and others managed to keep her conscious for two hours until paramedics were able to reach them.
Another witness, identified only as Gerard, said he heard a man shout “This is for Allah!” as he stabbed a woman. “He must have stabbed her at least 10 times, maybe 15,” he said. “She was crying, ‘Help me, please help me’, but there was nothing I could do.”
A taxi driver told LBC radio that he tried to run over one of the attackers who was stabbing a girl in the chest.
The situation grew even more frightening because the three attackers were wearing what looked like explosive vests, although these later turned out to be fake.
Police arrived on the scene as the stabbing went on, and tried to evacuate restaurants. In one video from the Wright Brothers Oyster and Porter House restaurant, staff members were seen directing customers to leave and run down the street. A fresh wave of confusion emerged when police officers began to fire at the attackers.
“I was in the back of the pub,” said Owen Evans, who was in The Wheatsheaf pub. “A wave of about 30 people ran in and tried to get into the cellar or cupboard. We saw police lights and everyone got down under a table. People turned tables over.”
Even after the attack ended, the night of uncertainty persisted. Police cordoned off nearby roads and shut down Tube stations, making it difficult for people trying to get home.
On Twitter, though, homes and businesses in the vicinity offered beds or sofas for people who needed to spend the night, using the hashtag #SofaForLondon.
“Sikh Gurdwara for help if your [sic] stranded in London after today’s attacks and need any help,” an account with the handle @ SikhYouthUK_ tweeted, along with a map of the temple’s location.
George Moss, who had lost his phone and was unable to get home because of a public trans- port cordon, responded to a tweet from Holly Robinson and Mary Lynch that offered their home to anyone seeking a place to stay.
“[ Without their assistance] I would have been in a pickle. I wouldn’t have anywhere else to go. Having someone so close and so willing to help makes a massive difference,” Mr Moss told The Guardian newspaper.