This is for Syria’: Machete-wielding man attacks London tube

[Chad]

The video shows the attacker and it's quite clear what happens - in those moments at least.

https://www.rt.com/uk/324882-london-leytonstone-station-stabbing-syria/

‘This is for Syria’: Machete-wielding man attacks London tube, police probing ‘terrorist incident’
Published time: 5 Dec, 2015 23:09
Edited time: 5 Dec, 2015 23:45
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© Luke Macgregor
© Luke Macgregor / Reuters
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Saturday night turned into a horror movie at London’s Leytonstone underground station as an attacker slashed a person’s throat while shouting “this is for Syria.” Police, who had difficulty detaining the man with only a Taser, are now treating the incident as a terror act.

The attack took place in the ticket hall at Leytonstone station. Witnesses described a horrific scene, with a pool of blood on the floor and the attacker shouting, while threatening to stab others.

The victim, who reportedly had his throat cut, was transported to a hospital and remains in a serious condition with multiple stab wounds, according to paramedics.

“We are treating this as a terrorist incident,” the head of the London police’s Counter Terrorism Command, Richard Walton, said in a statement.

A total of three people were injured in the incident – one seriously and two with only minor wounds, according to police.

London police declined to comment on the reports that the attacker was shouting comments about Syria.

Police used a Taser on the suspect to apprehend him, as he repeatedly resisted arrest. A video emerged showing the attacker scuffling with an officer.

WARNING: GRAPHIC FOOTAGE

A witness provided express.co.uk with a detailed account of the attack, claiming that Syria was mentioned in the aftermath of the stabbing.

“So as I was going to Leytonstone station, was dressed to go to Christmas dinner with people from work … I just saw a lot of people running but I ignored it and kept walking to get my train, but suddenly what I saw I couldn’t believe my eyes and what I saw was one guy with a knife and a dead guy on the floor.”

“I was so scared I ran for my life. After a good 10-15 police came and got the guy and arrested him. And as he was coming out this is what he said ‘This is what happens when you f*** with mother Syria all of your blood will be spilled,’” the witness claimed.

The Metropolitan Police have confirmed that officers were called to the scene at 7:06 pm local time on Saturday after reports of a stabbing. “Met officers attended the scene. A man was arrested at 19:14hrs and taken to an east London police station where he remains in custody,” a Met spokesperson said. “A Taser was discharged by one of the Met officers.”

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

 

[Chad]

Video links:
https://twitter.com/BigTobzsf/status/673239655291187200?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
https://twitter.com/Grasswire/status/673269129755951105?ref_src=twsrc^tfw

Metropolitan Police
✔
@metpoliceuk

Cmdr Walton re #Leytonstone "We are treating this as a terrorist incident. I would urge the public to remain calm, but alert & vigilant”1/2
10:54 PM - 5 Dec 2015

Metropolitan Police
✔
@metpoliceuk

2/2 Cmdr Walton cont: "I would appeal to anyone who saw anything suspicious to call the Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321” #Leytonstone
10:54 PM - 5 Dec 2015

To me, it doesn't look like what they're implying.

 

[Chad]

Another fear and hysteria hype event - this one's local to me.

Image caption The centre remains closed while Army bomb disposal experts and police investigate
Incendiary [?] device 'ignites' at Preston Fishergate Shopping Centre

1 hour ago
From the section Lancashire

The centre was evacuated after the device was found in a bin

A "small incendiary device" has "ignited" at a shopping centre, causing it to be evacuated, police have said.

The "deliberately planted" device was found in a bin at Preston's Fishergate Shopping Centre at about 09:10 GMT.

Lancashire Police said an evacuation was ordered "as a precaution" because the incendiary had "gone off, causing very minor damage and no injuries".

Ch Supt James Lee said the centre remained closed due to concerns there may be more devices.

He said the incendiary was found by a member of the public in the men's toilets.

"Something happened to it to cause a very small fire, but it was put out immediately," he said. [doesn't sound so threatening...]

An Army bomb disposal unit has gone to the centre to aid investigations.

This comes on the heels of the recent tube knife attack - attributed by an unnamed witness.. to a man shouting "this is for Syria" and to terrorism. (see image)

So if that's true, then surely Mi5 knew about him - or the CRB (criminal records bureau)check should have brought him to their attention.

Also: https://www.rt.com/uk/326034-jermaine-baker-police-shooting/ London man shot by police ‘set up by Turkish mafia,’ gang mediator tells RT < here the media immediately said it wasn't terror related. As it turns out, the civilians want the policeman tried for murder.

Murder charges could be brought against a police firearms officer who killed a man in north London last week. Scotland Yard has organized a last minute meeting with community groups to diffuse tensions and prevent anti-police riots.

Jermaine Baker, 28, was shot dead during a police operation on Bracknell Close in Wood Green last Friday. Police believed he was in a gang called ‘Bloodline’ and preparing to spring two Turkish gangsters from a prison van.

So there's alot going on.

 

[Chad]

Another fear and hysteria hype event - this one's local to me.

Incendiary [?] device 'ignites' at Preston Fishergate Shopping Centre

1 hour ago
From the section Lancashire

The centre was evacuated after the device was found in a bin

So there's alot going on.

update: also as background, Preston has a significant Muslim population so i imagine some of the commenters feel the Asian community - after things like the underground stabbing etc.. - are being blamed unnecessarily. Which means they may assign this to 'terrorism' just by a white person. I'm not sure this is wise.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/preston-fishergate-shopping-centre-bomb-commentators-claim-attempt-to-detonate-device-should-be-a6777976.html

Preston shopping centre 'bomb': Commentators claim incident should be treated as a terror attack
Police said the motive for the incident was unclear but that the person behind it wanted to cause 'serious injury'



Police and the media are being accused of playing down a bomb alert in a Preston shopping centre because the man officers want to trace appears to be white.

Lancashire Constabulary said the “crude incendiary device” ignited in the men’s toilets at the Fishergate Shopping Centre on Thursday morning but did not injure anyone.

The improvised package, reportedly made using an asthma inhaler, firelighter, matches and toilet paper, was found by a shopper who put out the flames and is currently being analysed.


Police released CCTV footage of a man they wanted to speak to, which shows him walking up an escalator at the nearby St George’s Shopping Centre around 40 minutes before the fire started, carrying a plastic bag.A 27-year-old man from Preston was arrested today at an address in the city. He is being held on suspicion of commiting arson with intent to endanger life, Lancashire Police said.

Detective Chief Inspector Jill Johnston, from Preston Police, said: “We are treating this as a criminal investigation and while the motivation for this incident remains unclear at this stage, we believe this device has been left there deliberately and did have the potential to cause serious injury if it had exploded.”

People commenting on social media noted the lack of references to terrorism in official statements and accused some media outlets of not giving enough prominence to the story, claiming that the response would have been different if the man in CCTV footage did not appear to be white.

Edward Kerr @EdwardKerr2

#fishergate I notice the bomb suspect looks "white British"... I also notice the silence over the whole thing. Bomb goes off, hardly a word.
5:01 PM - 17 Dec 2015

24 24 Retweets
13

Sunny Hundal @sunny_hundal

Homemade bomb planted in a Preston bin goes off, but gets hardly any media attention. Wonder what his religion was? http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/preston-shopping-centre-bomb-homemade-7029821 …
12:10 AM - 18 Dec 2015

Matthew Black @NoirMJ

Wondering why the bomb at Preston shopping centre isn't getting much coverage? yeah, that's right - the fella they're looking for is white
6:34 PM - 17 Dec 2015

Michael Holdsworth @ginger_michael

Amazed no one's banging on about the race of the Preston bombing suspect. I wonder why?..
8:04 PM - 17 Dec 2015

Lancashire Constabulary could not be reached for a comment.

Bomb disposal officers were called to the Fishergate centre after it was evacuated as a precaution and shut down for searches. It was due to re-open today.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101, quoting log number 293 of 17 December, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

As for the London shooting of a 'gang suspect' by the Met Police - the officer has been arrested. One wonders whether he was fearful and therefore trigger happy - or there's something else there.

Met firearms officer arrested in Jermaine Baker homicide probe
Published time: 18 Dec, 2015 16:26
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© Sophia Brown https://www.rt.com/uk/326451-police-shooting-jermaine-baker/
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A firearms officer who shot and killed Jermaine Baker during a police operation last week has been arrested. Speaking to RT, Baker’s friend claimed the father-of-two was “definitely murdered” while he slept in his parked car.

Senior officers from the Metropolitan Police and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) were met with fury at a heated community meeting at Tottenham Town Hall on Thursday night called in the wake of the 28-year-old’s death last Friday.

Police shot Baker dead as he sat in his black Audi on December 11, believing he was involved in a plot to spring two Turkish gangsters from a prison van outside Wood Green Crown Court.

In a dramatic development two days later, the officer responsible for pulling the trigger was suspended when the IPCC launched a homicide investigation into the incident.
‘We want armed officers to work within the law’

In the meeting, organized by Scotland Yard to establish the “full facts” behind Baker’s death, IPCC commissioners and Met officials bowed their heads to pay respects to the slayed father.

Met police Assistant Commissioner Helen King said: “The Metropolitan Police recognizes, and our armed officers recognize, that they have to work within the law, and be accountable to the law, which is what we want.

“It is in everyone’s interests that our armed officers have support when they conduct their very difficult duties, where often they are having to take split-second decisions.”

She was soon interrupted by residents who shouted, “Murderers,” and “Shame on you.”
‘Arrested’

Many attendees cheered when IPCC commissioner Cindy Butts announced the officer who shot Baker had been arrested and interviewed under caution on Thursday afternoon.

“This afternoon a firearms officer has been arrested and interviewed under caution. All the other significant firearms officers have provided detailed statements as is normal practice,” she said.

“The evidence we have at this stage does not mean that the officer definitively committed a criminal act and nor does it mean he will necessarily be charged with a criminal offense,” she added.

However, she refused to disclose the grounds under which the officer was arrested.

Asked if she thought the Met had handled the operation well, Butts told RT: “We can’t answer that, we are investigating the circumstances.”

“At the scene was a black Audi. The evidence suggests that Mr Baker was in the car when he was shot. In that car was what appears to be a non-police issue firearm,” Butts said.

“What I can tell you is we do not know if Jermaine was or not sleeping,” she added.

Speaking to RT, a close friend of Baker, who wishes to remain anonymous and claims he was with the victim just hours before he died, said he believes the 28-year-old was “shot while sleeping.”

He called for the Met to issue a public apology.
© William Njobvu
© William Njobvu

“They killed my friend, I’ll take it to David Lammy [MP for Tottenham], I’ll take it to the police, and I need an apology,” the friend said.

“I’m devastated,” he said, going on to say another riot, like those which swept England in 2011 in the wake of the police killing of Mark Duggan, “is needed.”

When RT asked Assistant Commissioner King if she regrets what happened and whether the Met would be willing to make an apology, she said: “The Metropolitan Police regrets the fact that a young man from London, Jermaine Baker, is no longer with us.”

“You liar,” one member of the crowd shouted in response.

“He was sleeping in his car and you lot shot him, why did you shoot him?” a friend of Baker said.

Another man attending the meeting called for Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe to resign.
‘He was no gangster, poor reporting’

“I’ve known Baker for my whole life. He was nothing like how he was portrayed in the media, he was no gangster,” Baker’s friend told RT.

His comments come in response to several media reports that called Baker a “gangster.”

Chief Superintendent Victor Olisa said police records and research do not indicate Baker was a gangster, suggesting the media made up the claims.

MP Lammy further criticized the media’s “poor reporting” of the incident.

“There has been some very poor reporting, and that is why with the family’s lawyer I contacted the attorney general, and the attorney general two days ago issued a notice to the media to remind them that they would be in contempt of court if they continue to write in the vein that some of them have written,” he said.
‘Body cameras’

In 2014, the Met announced its officers would start wearing body cameras as part of plans to improve transparency and accelerate convictions.

The announcement followed criticism of the force’s handling of the death of Mark Duggan, the 29-year-old whose killing by police sparked the 2011 riots.

Several activists at the community meeting questioned why the officer who shot Baker was not wearing a body camera, despite this being a pre-planned operation.

British race relations activist Lee Jasper said he is “furious” the officer was not wearing a body camera.

“The body cameras have been offered as the salivation technology tool to rebuild confidence between black communities and the police,” he told RT. “The whole issue of body cams is a sham.”

Jasper claimed there is a “very strong indication” Baker was unlawfully killed.

“The IPCC certainly doesn’t make decisions to enter a homicide investigation and to arrest an officer unless they have compelling and strong evidence,” he said.

Tottenham Rights coordinator Stafford Scott urged police: “Do not shoot anybody or kill anybody until all officers are wearing body cameras.”

However, on Tuesday, Met Commissioner Hogan-Howe said body cameras are “too big” to be worn by undercover officers.

“All of the officers who took part in the operation on Friday 11 December were doing a job, one that we as senior officers in the MPS asked of them,” a Met police spokesman said.

 

[Chad]

And another strange incident which can be attributed to mental illness:

https://in.news.yahoo.com/man-stabs-himself-head-heathrow-001701408.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=fb
Man 'stabs himself in head' at Heathrow
Press Association
17 December 2015
The incident happened at Heathrow&#39;s Terminal 5
View photos
The incident happened at Heathrow's Terminal 5

A man who reportedly stabbed himself in the head at Heathrow Airport has been taken to hospital.

Police are investigating the incident, which began when t he man is reported to have started attacking himself outside a shop in Terminal 5 at 5.45pm on Wednesday. it seems it was kept relatively quiet, even if this was posted on Thursday, it's the first i've seen

Officers and ambulance services arrived at the airport and took the man, whose injuries were not life-threatening, to hospital, a Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman said nobody else is being sought in connection with the incident.

The man was quickly pinned down by security guards, the Guardian said.

Tamara Lynch, who was on her home to Manchester from Heathrow, told the Guardian: "I did not realise what was going on at first. I came round the corner and there was this poor guy with five or six security guards around him.

"He was stood with his back to the shop window and was stabbing himself in the neck and he opened his jacket up and was trying to stab himself in the chest.

"I could not see what he was using but he was really trying to ram it in. There was blood all the way down the side of his face and down his shirt.

"He then ran towards me and one of the security guards jumped on top of him and pinned him down. He was very distressed but he was not threatening anyone else."

A Heathrow spokesman said on Wedenesday: "The emergency services attended Heathrow Terminal 5 this evening after a male passenger self-harmed. No other passengers were injured and there was no breach of airport security."

The spokesman added that it is believed the man picked up a knife from a shop in the terminal after passing through security. Knives allowed beyond security within airport security tend to have a shorter blade than normal, he said.

 

[Chad]

Further hysteria in my area and some disturbing commentary. This is from a summary of the year and looking ahead:

http://www.blogpreston.co.uk/2015/12/opinion-nine-things-2016-holds-for-preston/

Heightened state of alert
Recent incidents at the Fishergate Shopping Centre and in Deepdale Road show what living in a post-Paris attacks society means. We’re likely to see heightened security and police presence continuing for the time being. What we can be sure of is a calm and rational response from Preston.


We’ve seen the bomb squad’s robot in Preston twice during the last fortnight

First there was 'bomb scare' because a white guy set fire to a toilet (see prev posts) and following that was another 'scare' due to a discared fire alarm...

LATEST: Bomb alert was ‘discarded smoke alarm’

Picture from @ShoaibPatel on Twitter

10:19Sunday 27 December 2015

Preston was put on a second security alert in as many weeks - after a discarded smoke alarm sparked a bomb scare outside a takeaway.

Dominos pizza in Deepdale Road was evacuated after reports of a ‘suspicious device’ being found inside a bin close to the store on Saturday night.

Deepdale Road was closed in both directions as police and a specialist army bomb disposal team called in from Cheshire dealt with the incident from around 10pm until the early hours of the morning.

Large crowds gathered around the scene and worried residents took to social media to express their concerns.

But police have now confirmed the ‘suspicious device’ was nothing more than a discarded smoke alarm that a passer by heard beeping in a bin close to the takeaway.

A police spokesman said: “A member of the public heard beeping coming from a bin and being extra vigilant reported it to us.

“In the end it turned out someone had placed an old smoke or fire alarm in a bin and it was heard beeping. It is thought it could have been the sort of beeping you get when the batteries are low.

“A bit of disturbance was caused but it was paramount we covered all the bases and investigated the incident thoroughly.”

It is the second security alert in Preston in recent weeks after the Fishergate Centre was closed earlier in the month when an incendiary device made from firelighters and an asthma inhaler was placed in a toilet at the shopping centre.

A man has been arrested and bailed in connection with that incident.

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/local/latest-bomb-alert-was-discarded-smoke-alarm-1-7644368

 

[Chad]

Re: suspect fire alarms, and suitcases full of dvds - hysteria, inculcation?

Just to log this. It seems everything is suspect:

Suitcase destroyed by controlled explosion in Durham street was packed with DVDs

Police seal off part of Durham
1:02
Police on bomb scare

Tony Kearney / 10:43 Tuesday 22 March 2016 / News
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BOMB disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion in Durham City this morning on a suspicious package which turned out to be a suitcase packed with CDs and DVDs.

An Army team from Catterick Garrison used a bomb disposal robot to deal with the abandoned suitcase found in Old Elvet – carrying out two controlled explosions in the space of five minutes.

The Northern Echo:

It was found outside Old Shire Hall, the former headquarters of Durham University, just after 9.30am and police quickly sealed off the area, with staff and customers at a number of buildings evacuated as a precaution.

A cordon, which extended along Old Elvet between the Dun Cow pub and the Durham Marriott Royal County Hotel and beyond the New Elvet traffic light junction towards the Swan and Three Cygnets pub, was lifted at about 1.15pm.

Inspector Steve Long said: “This morning at around 9.30am one of my officers was dealing with a separate incident in Old Elvet - it was a report of a burglary.

“As he has come away from that incident he’s noticed a suitcase across the street outside the Old Shire Hall.

“But clearly, given the circumstances earlier this morning in Belgian Brussels, we called it a serious incident to start with and made a quick assessment.

“After some quick inquiries with the surrounding businesses and hotel we couldn’t establish who owned the suitcase so we contacted Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) in Catterick Garrison and they have attended.

“They have carried out two controlled explosions. Thankfully it is nothing suspicious. It appears it is a suitcase packed with DVDs and CDs.

“We’ll make some inquiries now to establish who the suitcase belongs to – but thankfully it is what it is – it’s a suitcase.

The Northern Echo:

A crowd of up to 200 people watched the incident unfold from the safety of Elvet Bridge, behind the police cordon.

Rob Barward-Symmons, who was in the area at the time, said: "I stuck around for five or ten minutes and more cars and officers arrived but there wasn't a sense of urgency or immediacy.

"People were coming out of offices in dribs and drabs, again no panicking or anything. A riot van was parked on a side road nearby, but there was no action at all."

Old Shire Hall is due to be converted into a hotel and restaurant. .

The thing is, with the state of some areas of the country they could suspect anything.The other thing is inculcating the public that this is an appropriate response.

I don't like the title of this thread - i used the headline from the article - because it kinda implies that the mentally ill person said that, when actually, it was just an unconfirmed comment by an unknown. All the same, i'm just trying to collate similar incidents. Added: I've changed it (maybe not amazing but it's probably better)