WITNESSES TO THE suspected terror attack in London are describing seeing a white van drive into people outside the Finsbury Park Mosque.
The Metropolitan Police said eight people were taken to hospital and several were seriously injured in the incident which occurred on Seven Sisters Road after 12.20am.
The driver of the van – a white man aged 48 – was found detained by members of the public at the scene and then arrested by police in connection with the incident.
Eyewitness Abdul Rahman told BBC News that he tackled the driver to the ground – with the help of other people – as he tried to run from the scene.
“When he was running he was saying, ‘I’m going to kill more people’”, Rahman said.
When he was on the ground I asked him, ‘Why did you do this?’ and he said ‘I want to kill Muslims’.
Rahman told the BBC that he hit the man and helped keep him under control until police arrived.
“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,” he told reporters.
One man was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have confirmed they are treating the attack as terrorism.
Praised
The Guardian reports that an imam from the Muslim Welfare House was praised for ensuring the crowd did not harm the man.
They quote a man named as Mohammed who says that the imam calmed the situation after the van driver was apprehended by the public.
“The imam came from the mosque and he said, ‘Listen we are fasting, this is Ramadan, we are not supposed to do these kinds of things so please step back’.”
“For that reason this guy is still alive today.”
Meanwhile, delivery driver Mohammad Abdullah, who was on his bike near the incident, told Sky News he saw the van “take a sudden left turn”.
“I think he done it on purpose. I was on a ped. He was about three cars in front of me. He came in a bus lane and took a sharp left,” Abdullah told the station’s reporter.
He went on top of the people. He actually ran them over. It was a white van. All I could see was just people getting hit.
“I’ve seen about six or seven people on the floor. Most of them were male. It was exactly the same time as the prayers finished. As soon as it finished, this guy came.”
Finsbury Park resident Cynthia Vanzella also told Sky News that she saw police giving emergency medical treatment to victims after the attack.
“I heard a lot of shouting and panic. It was really ugly. I could see at least two people on the floor not moving and police officers trying to do cardiac massage on them,” Vanzella said.
Eight people were injured during the attack and taken to three area hospitals. At least two are being treated for “very serious” injuries.
A number of armed police units remain on the scene.
With reporting from Paul Hosford
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