Armed man arrested on suspicion of terrorism near U.K. Parliament

[zenkai]

Source



LONDON -- London police arrested a man with knives on terrorism charges Thursday near Britain's Houses of Parliament.

The Metropolitan Police force said no one was injured in the incident, which brought armed police flooding into the area around Parliament.

Witnesses reported seeing armed police blocking off Whitehall, a street lined with government buildings, and a man on the ground surrounded by police.

A black-clad man could later be seen standing on the sidewalk, surrounded by police, before being put into a police vehicle.

The police said in a statement that one man had been a "arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism." The statement confirmed that the suspect had knives on him.

The police said there was "no immediate known threat" after the individual's arrest.

Security has been increased around Parliament after an attacker drove an SUV into pedestrians on nearby Westminster Bridge on March 22, killing four, before stabbing a police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament. The attacker, Khalid Masood, was shot dead by police.

Police believe Masood, 52, a British-born Muslim convert with convictions for violence, acted alone, but ISIS did claim responsibility for the attack.

Thursday is Parliament's last sitting day before Britain's June 8 election.

Police say there has been a surge in knife crimes in London in the past year.

Britain also faces a threat from international terrorism classified as "severe," meaning an attack is highly likely.

Looks like UK high alert is paying off.

[Deleted]

good job they stopped and searched him

[Karfal]

Was he Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindi, or anything other non-third world religion? I mean the Christian terrorist are what we need to watch out for...

[Deleted]

Was he Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindi, or anything other non-third world religion? I mean the Christian terrorist are what we need to watch out for...

theres a pic of him on the BBC article. Its quite surprising actually, doesn't look at all what you would expect.

[Zoibert the Bear]

theres a pic of him on the BBC article. Its quite surprising actually, doesn't look at all what you would expect.

You are right, I though he'd be a ginger.

[Karfal]

theres a pic of him on the BBC article. Its quite surprising actually, doesn't look at all what you would expect.

Honestly. I know the answer I don't need to look.

[Darkeon]

Assuming the suspicion checks out, good job on catching him before anything worse happened.

[Deleted]

He is just a peaceful tanned sous-chef on his way to work.