Finsbury Park attack: “hatred and evil will never succeed” says May in statement

Prime Minister Theresa May has spoken out about the recent terror attack, which took place in Finsbury Park.

She spoke following the death of a man died and 10 people were injured after a 48-year-old man drove a van into worshippers near a north London mosque.

In a statement, May said the “hatred and evil” of the kind seen in the attack would never succeed.

The Prime Minister said the attack had “once again targeted the ordinary and the innocent going about their daily lives – this time, British Muslims as they left a mosque, having broken their fast and prayed together at this sacred time of year”.

“Today we come together, as we have done before, to condemn this act and to state once again that hatred and evil of this kind will never succeed.” she added.

According to May, the attack on Muslims was “every bit as insidious and destructive to our values and our way of life. We will stop at nothing to defeat it.”

Neil Basu, the senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism, said: “No matter what the motivation proves to be, and we are keeping an open mind, this is being treated as a terrorist attack and the counter-terrorism command is investigating.

“This was an attack on London and all Londoners and we should all stand together against extremists whatever their cause.”

Eyewitness Mr Rahman said of the incident: “When the guy came out from his van he wanted to escape, run away and he was saying ‘I want to kill Muslims. ‘I want to kill Muslims.’

“I hit him on his stomach… and then me and the other guys… we held him to the ground until he couldn’t move. We stopped him until the police came.”

Many of the attack’s victims were leaving evening prayers at the Muslim Welfare House after breaking their fast.

 

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