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22nd Mar 2017

Harrowing account of the terrorist incident at Westminster

Paul Moore

Scotland Yard have stated that the attack at Westminster is being treated as a terrorist incident.

At the present moment, two people have died with several others suffering ‘catastrophic’ injuries following a terrifying ordeal which saw pedestrians being mowed down on Westminster Bridge.

Elsewhere, the attacker that stabbed a policeman with a knife was shot by the police.

Regarding these terrorist incidents, the Hull Daily Mail’s Westminster reporter Patrick Daly was in the vicinity and he documented the ordeal.

“A bang. That’s what we heard. A loud but not alarming bang. Then there appeared to be screaming – fairly incessant shouts which sounded like they were coming to my right.  I went to the window, almost expecting it to be a construction worker injured – there’s always work going on in Westminster. But upon seeing the street scene below it was clear something far worse had happened. People were running in floods, almost like a stampede, from Westminster Bridge and away from Parliament Square.”

He adds: “The next thing I saw was one of the policemen who guard the car gate into New Palace Yard being confronted by a man.At first, I wasn’t sure if the man was scared and looking for refuge but then it turned violent.  As I went to start live tweeting what I was seeing, I saw a policeman dressed all in black, to the left of the attacked officer, approaching the attacker slowly. The armed officer was not far from the visitor’s café. There seemed to be some kind of verbal shouts between them before the armed officer fired off two to three shots and the attacker crumpled to the floor.”

Paramedics arrived shortly after to perform CPR on the injured officer.

Northern Irish MP Jeffery Donaldson also provided an eyewitness account of today’s attacks. Speaking with Belfast Live, Donaldson says: “I was outside in the yard about to go in for a vote when we heard a loud bang. The police were very quick, they reacted instantly and told us to get to the ground. I didn’t see anything as I was on the ground, but I certainly heard the bang.”

Eyewitness Steve Voake was on Westminster Bridge and he provided the BBC with an account of the tragic events.

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