Screaming for water, latest victims of acid attackers
TWO men ran into a shop screaming for water after another suspected acid attack in London last night.
Police were called to the Bethnal Green area after the pair were doused in a suspected noxious substance.
‘They had acid on their face and they were burning – their skin was peeling off,’ said a shopkeeper who did not want to be named. They were shouting and I gave them water and they were washing their faces. They said “We have got acid on us”.
‘They were pouring the water over themselves in the shop, and it had got into their clothes. One of them was pouring it down his trousers.’ The attack is the latest of a string in the capital involving acid. The number of cases has more than doubled from fewer than 200 in 2014 to 431 last year.
An officer who responded to yesterday’s incident, said: ‘The colour of their faces changed from where the bleach had been thrown over their faces.’
He said the victims ‘weren’t saying too much’ but it was ‘believed that they do know who the suspect is’.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Service said: ‘Police in Tower Hamlets are dealing with a suspected nox- ious substance attack on two males in Roman Road. Officers were flagged down in the area at 7pm by the two males.
‘London Ambulance Service attended the scene. Both have been taken to an east London hospital for treatment. Their injuries are not life threatening.
‘No arrests have been made. Enquiries are ongoing.’
Last month Resham Khan, 21, and 37-year-old Jameel Muhktar were inside a car in Beckton, east London, when a man threw a corrosive substance through the window.
The pair were left with lifechanging injuries. Mr Muhktar said he feels ‘like somebody’s ironing me 24/7’.
East London MP Stephen Timms recently called for carrying acid to be made a crime.
Five people were targeted in just 90 minutes in a string of attacks in the north and east of the capital on July 13.
Areas such as the West Midlands and Essex have also seen large rises in the number of incidents – but more than half of the UK’s acid attacks take place in the capital.
Earlier this week it was announced that police in London are now being provided with acid response kits.
West Midlands Police are issuing guidelines for dealing with corrosive liquids.
‘Their skin was peeling off’