At 10:08pm this evening a white transit van ploughed through crowds of pedestrians on London Bridge.
Subsequent police reports confirmed this was part of a co-ordinated attack on innocent civilians, resulting in a number of fatalities, including an incident at Borough Market. A further unrelated incident occurred at Vauxhall. This comes just weeks after Manchester was targeted by a cowardly suicide bomber.
Yet, London – as with Manchester – has reacted with an overwhelming sense of unity in the face of hate, refusing to be cowed by terror or suspicious of strangers.
Instead, London locals in Vauxhall, and the London Bridge and Borough Market areas have offered shelter and respite – and a warm brew – to those stranded in the immediate aftermath of these attacks.
Police advise civilians to stay safe by following three simple instructions as they use all the necessary resources to keep civilians safe: ‘Remain calm, but be alert & vigilant’ and ‘run to a place of safety’.
We stand together.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.