Met probe Hyde Park knife attack
POLICE on Monday (26) said they were investigating a knife attack on a woman in a London park, with online footage showing that she was wearing a T-shirt with a cartoon from Charlie Hebdo, the French magazine targeted by Islamist extremists.
The 39-year-old woman was treated in hospital for a minor slash injury after the attack last Sunday (25) afternoon at Speakers Corner’ in Hyde Park, the Metropolitan Police said.
Footage posted on YouTube showed a man in a hooded top approaching a woman holding an umbrella and stabbing her, apparently several times. He then took off his hood and left.
The woman’s T-shirt had the
Charlie Hebdo logo and a cartoon showing a Muslim man kissing a cartoonist with the slogan
“L’amour plus fort que la haine” (love is stronger than hate).
Speakers’ Corner is a historic place for open-air debate where people are allowed to make speeches on any lawful subject.
Police did not identify the victim by name, but social media said she was Hatun Tash, a preacher
from a group called DCCI Ministries that says it seeks to preach the Christian gospel to Muslims.
Detectives said they had recovered a knife at the scene and the victim had given an account of what happened.
“We know this assault was witnessed by a number of people, many of whom captured it on their phones. I would ask them, if they have not already done so, to contact police,” said Detective Superintendent Alex Bingley.
He also asked people not to “speculate on the motive for the attack until we have established the full facts”.
Twelve members of staff at the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo were gunned down in January 2015 by two brothers who vowed allegiance to Al-Qaeda.
The gunmen said they were taking revenge for the magazine’s publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that many Muslims find offensive.