London attack

In what is being described as a ‘terror’ attack, on Wednesday a man drove a 4x4 vehicle through pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in London before attempting to enter the British parliament – armed with a knife. Three people, including a police officer, were killed while around 40 people were injured in the attack. During the course of the attack, police shot dead the attacker. The British police revealed the identity of the attacker on Thursday – 52-year old Khalid Masood, born and raised in the UK. He was not on any terrorism watch-list but had a number of criminal charges against him. All signs point to this being a ‘lone-wolf’ attack, even though Isis claimed responsibility for the attack, calling the attacker “a soldier of Islamic State”. Unlike the London bombing of 2004, Wednesday’s attack did not require any kind of high-level of organisational structure or sophistication. This could suggest that even if the attacker was part of a terrorist network in the UK (an unlikely scenario), it would have be rather weak. The problem with attacks such as these is that there is nothing that can really be done to guard against vehicles being used for terrorist attacks in this way. This is what makes such incidents more shocking and frightening for the ordinary citizen. But there is also the fact this is the first attack on British soil in over a decade. This means that the fundamentals of the country’s approach to tackling terrorism have worked until now. 

In a statement to parliament, British Prime Minister Theresa May hailed the steadfastness of the British people but did not outline any new security measures. And indeed there is really no need to rush to come up with new security measures. The attack is a clear reflection of the fact that we face bigger threats than laptops. It is also important not to start profiling or attacking the religious identity of the attacker. The UK is entering a particularly divisive divorce from the European Union, which has left the country’s social divisions much more exposed. The list of those injured in the attack includes Europeans and Asians and is a tribute to the much celebrated legacy of multiculturalism in the UK. Far-Right parties such as UKIP have already begun to use the attack to stir anti-immigrant rhetoric – conveniently forgetting that it was a white man who had killed MP Jo Cox inspired by this very rhetoric. There is a need for the country not to respond in a way that divides its own population even more. The problem of terrorism is a global one. For every European citizen who becomes a victim of terrorism, it must be remembered that there are many more who die every day in countries whose populations are being demonised. It is important that the global response understands this.