Attacked at prayer

IT COULD have been London Bridge, Westminster, Berlin or Nice. A man in a van, mowing down pedestrians, spewing hate: the ritual is sadly familiar. But this time the victims were Muslims, worshippers who had been at prayer after breaking their Ramadan fast. Just after midnight on June 19th a van mounted the pavement outside the Muslim Welfare House near the Finsbury Park mosque in north London. One man, already receiving first aid after slipping over, was killed. Nine others were injured. Witnesses say the attacker leapt from the vehicle shouting “Kill all Muslims!” and “You deserve it!” before being overpowered by onlookers.

Darren Osborne, a middle-aged man from Cardiff, was arrested at the scene. The police and government are clear in describing the attack as terrorism. Theresa May convened an emergency COBRA meeting. It is not known if the attacker had links to extremist groups or was a “lone wolf”. But...Continue reading