Londoners are famous for their stiff upper lip and determination to carry on no matter what. But that spirit of resolve has been sorely tested by a string of terrorist attacks that’s left a growing sense of anger that not enough is being done to protect people.
“I think something’s got to be done. It’s crossed a line now, I mean three [attacks] in three months,” said Paul Ridley as he joined thousands of people at a vigil Monday evening outside London’s city hall for the victims of Saturday’s attack.
“It’s not like we’re a year down the line, the attacks are so close together,” added his wife, Sarah. “I think the government has to do something.”
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Tensions are rising across the country as Britain tries to come to terms with three terror attacks in just 10 weeks that have killed a total of 34 people and injured more than 200. The last one came Saturday in a popular nightlife district near London Bridge, when three men drove a small van into crowds of pedestrians and then stabbed people randomly in nearby bars. Police shot and killed the attackers, but not before seven people died, including one Canadian, and 48 were injured. Since then, police arrested 12 people as part of their investigation but they have all been released without charge.
As the initial pain over that attack subsides, fierce criticism has erupted on all fronts about how the police and the government tackle terrorism. Politicians are pointing fingers at each other and turning up the heat on security issues with an election coming Thursday. The MI5 intelligence service is under growing pressure to explain how it missed the latest attackers even though one of them had been seen on a television documentary praising the Islamic State. And amid all of this, U.S. President Donald Trump has launched a Twitter war against London Mayor Sadiq Khan, labelling him weak on terrorism.
On Monday, London police tried to hit back at critics over their handling of Saturday’s attack. Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said the alleged ringleader, 27-year-old Khuram Shazad Butt, was known to police and MI5, however “there was no intelligence to suggest that this attack was being planned and the investigation had been prioritized accordingly.” He said one other alleged assailant, 30-year-old Rachid Redouane, was not known to them. Police have yet to name the third attacker.
Commissioner Rowley said that while counterterrorism had improved recently, police have to make “difficult judgments about how to prioritize the resources available to us at a time when the U.K. is facing a severe and high-tempo terrorist threat.” He added that police are handling 500 terrorism investigations involving 3,000 people and that there are 20,000 other individuals “whose risk remains subject to review by MI5 and its partners.” And he said the security service has stopped 18 plots since 2013.
But that hasn’t quelled rising concerns about missed opportunities to stop the plot. Several people have come forward saying they reported Mr. Butt to counterterrorism authorities but nothing was done. He also appeared in a television documentary called The Jihadis Next Door and was filmed as part of a group that praised the Islamic State and vowed that its black flag would one day fly over Downing Street. One woman, Erica Gasparri, told The Daily Telegraph that she had reported him to the police two years ago after he allegedly tried to radicalize children in a park. She confronted him after her two children came home and said, “Mummy I want to become a Muslim.”
On Monday, people who lived in the same housing project as Mr. Butts in the east London district of Barking said he shared a one-bedroom flat with his wife and two children. One neighbour, Assim Uddin, said Mr. Butt had recently become more devout, cleaning up his appearance and swapping casual clothes for more traditional garments. He also caused some resentment by parking his car illegally along the street and he hadn’t been seen in the local mosque for months after clashing over his views with the imam. “He was not very social with us,” Mr. Uddin said.
Police have searched six properties, but so far no one has been charged with any offence. And it isn’t clear how the trio of attackers came together or if there is a wider network.
As the police probe continued on Monday, Prime Minister Theresa May faced tough questions about her track record in government, which included cutting 20,000 police officers during her six years as interior minister. Ms. May, who took over as Prime Minister last summer, has been pitching herself as a strong and steady leader and security issues should have played into her hand. But she has been forced to answer repeated questions about the police cuts, insisting that counterterrorism budgets have not been reduced and promising a four-point plan to combat extremism.
Her main rival, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, has jumped on the security issue, calling the cuts by Ms. May appalling and saying they had contributed to the recent wave of attacks. Mr. Corbyn has cut into Ms. May’s big lead in most opinion polls and he has been trying to refashion his image and tone down his pacifist background. On Monday, he told reporters he supported the “full authority for the police to use whatever force is necessary to protect and save life.”
He has gotten a boost on the issue from Mr. Khan, a former Labour member of Parliament who was elected mayor last year and is a popular figure across the country. Mr. Khan said the Tory cuts had cost London £600-million, or $1-billion, and forced the city to close police stations. “We’ve lost thousands of police staff,” he said.
Into all of this came Mr. Trump, who lashed out at Mr. Khan on Twitter, calling him pathetic and claiming the mayor told people not to worry about the attacks. Mr. Khan has yet to respond directly, but his officials have said Mr. Trump misconstrued the mayor’s comments, saying Mr. Khan was warning people not to be alarmed by additional police on the streets. Mr. Trump’s comments were widely condemned in Britain and even Ms. May came to the mayor’s defence, telling reporters she thought he was doing a good job “and it is wrong to say anything else.”
During the vigil on Monday evening, the second in three months for victims of terrorism, Mr. Khan urged the city to unite amid the turmoil. “As a proud and patriotic British Muslim, I say this: You do not commit these disgusting acts in my name,” he told the crowd. “Your perverse ideology has nothing to do with the true values of Islam. You will never succeed in dividing our city.”
Julie Fidler, who stood in the crowd with her friend Barbro Perkins, said the attacks had not changed her love of the city. “I would never leave London,” she said. Terrorism “would never make me leave the city.” And she’s taken a realistic approach to the attacks. “I think it’s just become a reality now,” she said. “There’s more of an acceptance that this kind of thing is going to happen. But that doesn’t make it right.”
Follow Paul Waldie on Twitter: @PwaldieGLOBE
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