They have since changed the headline.
One man has been confirmed dead, and another 10 are injured, after a man driving a van ploughed into pedestrians outside a mosque in Finsbury Park, north London.
The incident occurred shortly after midnight. Worshippers had just left the mosque on the Seven Sisters Road following prayers during Ramadan. Prime Minister Theresa May said it is being treated as “potential terrorist attack”.
The driver of the van was a 48-year-old man, who has been arrested and detained by police. He was pulled from the vehicle and pinned to the ground by members of the public.
According to witnesses, the man shouted: “I want to kill Muslims.”
The Muslim centre’s Imam protected the 48-year-old man from the angry crowd until the police arrived, and pleaded for calm.
The moment the police are taking the man who ploughed pedestrians in #FinsburyPark https://t.co/Yr7mgS1mcz
— Hamza (@MacrobianNomad) June 19, 2017
The Daily Mail’s headline on their story covering the incident has come in for strong criticism.
On their website, the Mail’s headline read:
“White van driver injures at least 10 people after ploughing into crowd outside London’s Finsbury Park mosque where hate cleric Abu Hamza once preached as Muslims finish their evening prayers.”
The Mail also referred to the suspect as “a clean-shaven white man.” They have since changed the headline, but their original take on the incident came in for a lot of criticism.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling was among those to take issue with the headline.
https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/876686501505060864
First headline from the Daily Mail is disgusting and intentionally justifies terrorism. They knew they went too far and tried to change it. pic.twitter.com/Uh67JA9wfx
— Shehab Khan ITV (@ShehabKhan) June 19, 2017
https://twitter.com/EmmaKennedy/status/876678103690563585
Thoughts with all in Finsbury Park. Innocent lives lost to terrorism once more. Yes, Daily Mail. Terrorism. pic.twitter.com/9TPPQ0Pyvr
— Jake Humphrey (@mrjakehumphrey) June 19, 2017
I fixed the Daily Mail headline on today's terrorist attack. pic.twitter.com/lXlf1oFPmU
— Ben Phillips (@benphillips76) June 19, 2017
https://twitter.com/vanbadham/status/876665285499011072
Daily Mail makes me sick! Utter hypocrisy #FinsburyPark pic.twitter.com/1LtCVCWiLV
— Sas (@Susie05683913) June 19, 2017
