A man was shot dead by police on Sunday 2 February in Streatham, south London, after stabbing several passers-by. “The circumstances are being assessed, the incident is considered to be a terrorist incident”, said London police. At this stage, “We think there are two injured. We are awaiting new information on their condition ” she continued.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson thanked on Twitter “The emergency services that responded to the Streatham incident.” “Terrorists seek to divide us and destroy our way of life. We will never let them succeed ” said the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
Tightening of anti-terrorism legislation
This attack comes just over two months after a knife attack which killed two people at London Bridge, right in the center of the British capital, and led the Conservative government of Boris Johnson to announce tougher anti-terrorist legislation.
These notably aim at increasing the penalties for the perpetrators of terrorist acts and prohibiting their early release. The perpetrator of the November 2019 attack, Usman Khan, 28, was a former terrorist detainee on half-sentence release. He was participating on the scene in a rehabilitation program for former detainees. The bill, which is to be studied in parliament, also provides that those convicted of acts considered terrorist should be imprisoned for at least 14 years.
In recent years, London has been the scene of several terrorist attacks. In March 2017, a man had run over the crowd with his vehicle on Westminster Bridge before fatally stabbing a policeman in front of the Parliament, killing five. Two months later, twenty-two people – including children – had died in a attack at the end of an Ariana Grande concert, in Manchester. In 2005, four explosions also left 56 dead and 784 injured. in London public transport.
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