Leytonstone Tube station stabbing latest: “Terrorist incident” investigation leads to east London address search while Twitter responds with #YouAintNoMuslimBruv
An incident at Leytonstone Tube station in which three people were injured is being treated as a "terrorist incident", the Metropolitan police have said and an address in east London is being searched.
Police were called to the station in east London at around 7pm on Saturday evening after reports of a man threatening people with a knife. One 56-year-old man sustained serious but not life-threatening knife injuries. A second man sustained minor injuries while a third person was threatened but not injured.
"We are treating this as a terrorist incident. I would urge the public to remain calm, but alert and vigilant. The threat from terrorism remains at severe, which means that a terrorist attack is highly likely," said commander Richard Walton of the Met's counter terrorism unit.
A 29-year-old man was arrested at the scene after being tasered on suspicion of attempted murder. The suspect shouted "this is for Syria" according to several reports, leading the police to treat it as a terrorism related.
"There is an ongoing police investigation into the attack in London. We are monitoring the situation closely as further details emerge," a Downing Street spokesperson said.
A good service is now operating on the Central line, which runs through Leytonstone, after some disruption following the incident.
Meanwhile, Twitter turned to the hashtag #YouAintNoMuslimBruv as a riposte to the attack. In video footage which reportedly captured the incident, a witness shouted the phrase at the attacker who claimed it was for Syria.
Mayoral candidate Sadiq Kahn tweeted:
To defeat extremism we must directly challenge their poisonous ideology#YouAintNoMuslimBruvhttps://t.co/MTtZ4XjjoS pic.twitter.com/YK9dcrMCu0
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) December 6, 2015
And fellow candidate Zac Goldsmith tweeted:
Big thanks to the police for bringing terrifying events at Leytonstone to an end. We are all indebted to them.
— Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) December 6, 2015