POLICE on Tuesday (20) questioned a man suspected of deliberately mowing down Muslims in London, as the home secretary said Britain was “bruised but not broken” by a string of terror attacks.
The family of Darren Osborne, the man suspected of deliberately driving into the Muslim group, said he was “troubled” and described his action as “sheer madness”.
Osborne, 47, a father of four from Cardiff in Wales, was arrested after the attack and is being questioned by police on suspicion of attempted murder and terrorism.
Police are treating the incident as a terror attack but believe the suspect acted alone.
The spate of attacks had “bruised but not broken the heart of this great nation”, home secretary Amber Rudd said.
Londoners bearing flowers and messages of solidarity gathered late on Monday (19) at the scene of the attack, some carrying signs reading “United Against All Terror”.
Another vigil was planned for Tuesday (20) as Eastern Eye went to press.
Rudd said Muslims needed to feel safe in Britain and the government was working to tackle all forms of hate crime and extremism.
“Indicative figures suggest that over half of those who experience hate because of their religion are Muslim. Any hate crime is unacceptable but this stark figure is something we will not shy away from,” she wrote in a newspaper.
“We stand with the Muslim community – you are not alone, we share your pain and we will not let you down.”
But Rawah-ud-din Arif Khan, the imam of another mosque nearby, conceded: “There is fear among our community.
“There people want to divide us, we have to make sure that we don’t fall into their trap,” he said.
One victim of Monday’s attack has no memory of what happened, according to a nephew who did not wish to be identified.
“He is bleeding out of his ear, but in general his health was stable,” he said after visiting his uncle Hamza Sharif in hospital.
“He has a fracture in his skull – but they still don’t know why the bleeding from his ear is not stopping yet,” the Somali-born man said.
Sharif “does not remember anything” of the attack and kept asking “what was wrong”.
