The 48-year-old killer driver was subdued by a crowd and arrested, authorities said.
Mr Basu said that the past few months had been an “incredibly challenging time” for London, not least the “stretched” emergency services. This comes near the end of Ramadan, the holiest time of the year for Muslims.
The video of the crash early Monday morning was accessed by the AP. “We ask the government to do more to protect us Muslims”.
Toufik Kacimi, the chief executive of the Muslim Welfare House, said the man who was arrested had to be rescued by the imam at the centre to stop him being attacked, Sky News reported.
Athmane, a resident in the area, told Al Jazeera the suspect “was waving for victory, and was smiling” after he was taken into custody.
“When I got him on the ground, I said, ‘Why are you doing this?’ He said, ‘I want to kill more Muslims'”. ‘I want to kill Muslims’. And then the guy came out of his van and I got him. Some in the area had tried to attack the man, but were fended off by those holding him and an imam from the mosque. “An attack on one community is an attack on all of us”, said Police Commissioner Cressida Dick.
A witness described hearing screams and seeing more than a dozen police vehicles outside her window. He said although the attack seems to target a particular community like the Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge, it is an attack on people’s values of freedom, respect and tolerance.
A leader of the Muslim Council of Britain has called for extra security at mosques in the wake of the attack.
The threat from extreme right-wing groups has been growing in recent years, he said, noting that 16% of all terror arrests in the year to March were classed as “domestic extremism”.
London police say they’re investigating whether the death of a man outside a London mosque was the direct result of a van plowing into a crowd of Muslim worshippers.
“There was a lot of people”. There were bodies around me.
“I think it’s also something, in the case of Islamophobia, there are extremists again who are driving hatred, who are using language about cleansing Britain of Islam, who are talking about a final solution for Muslims”, he said. Police are investigating whether a man who died at the scene was killed by the attack or something else.
– Van appears to be a hire vehicle from a company in Wales.
Police say no other suspects have been identified, but their investigation continues.
“I’ve been in touch with the local mosques, police and Islington council regarding the incident”.
Mohammed Kozbar, general secretary of Finsbury Park Mosque, gave a statement on behalf of a joint faiths group.
“We are shocked and saddened by this attack, which in no way reflects this local community, which is as harmonious as it is diverse. We will make sure that we do all we can to reduce these sort of attacks”.
“To be honest, I can’t go to the mosque any more”.
U.K. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn told the BBC that “an attack on a mosque, an attack on a synagogue, an attack on a church is actually an attack on all of us”.
Just days after the London Bridge attack, political shockwaves were heard all over the United Kingdom when Theresa May’s Conservative Party lost their majority in the general election.
The attack took place outside Finsbury Park Mosque in North London Where did the attack take place?
“This adds to the vulgarity of such a horrific attack. These perpetrators will never succeed”.
Another witness, Abdikadar Warfa, said he helped to detain the suspect while his friends helped victims.