‘Far-Right race hate’ knife attack in Surrey
A STABBING in Surrey is being treated as a terror attack ‘inspired by the far-Right’.
A man went on a rampage with a knife and a baseball bat while hurling racist abuse in the village of Stanwell on Saturday night.
Witnesses saw a man swinging a blade and heard shouts of ‘kill a Muslim’ before a teenager was knifed in the hand in a nearby supermarket car park.
It came a day after the New Zealand mosque attacks, in which 50 worshippers were gunned down by a white supremacist. As fears grew that the Christchurch shootings may have emboldened fanatics, counter-terrorism police last night said the UK incident has the ‘ hallmarks of a terror event inspired by the far-Right’.
Theresa May also condemned the British attack, adding: ‘Vile, hateful far-Right extremism has no place in our society.’
The incident occurred in a street of semi- detached and terraced homes in Stanwell, near Heathrow Airport. Police were first called to reports of a knifeman shouting racist comments. Several vehicles were also damaged.
The attacker then headed to a Tesco car park, where a group of teenagers were hanging out in cars, and spoke to one of the young drivers. A witness told the GetSurrey website: ‘The man asked the young lad if he wanted to die, and then said, “Well, you’re going to die” and swung the knife at the young lad. The young lad held his hand up and was stabbed in the hand.’
The victim, 19, went to a nearby McDonald’s to get help and is now being treated in hospital. Nemer Salem, who lives nearby, said he heard a man shouting racist slurs out of a window earlier on Saturday night. The 24-year- old, who came to London six years ago from Syria, said: ‘He started saying some crazy things about Muslims and just shut the window. I’m a Muslim and I got a little bit worried.’
Vincent Sutherland, 54, said: ‘He was shouting, “kill a Muslim” and “white supremacy” and then I went inside and I heard a load of banging.’ A 50-year-old man from Stanwell has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and a racially-aggravated public order offence.
Neil Basu, the UK’s counter terrorism police chief, said last night: ‘Whilst this investigation is still in
‘Toxic extremist ideology’
its infancy, it has hallmarks of a terror event, inspired by the farRight, and therefore it has been declared a terrorism incident.’
He added: ‘Police are committed to tackling all forms of toxic extremist ideology, which has the potential to threaten public safety and security.’ Abhishek Agrawal, 40, who runs a catering company – Indian Homemade – with his wife Tanu, 36, said last night: ‘It’s very scary to hear this has happened.’
Another homeowner said she hid in an alley to avoid a man swinging a ‘long, shiny metal weapon’.
Surrey Police said patrols in the area will be stepped up, including around mosques.