Overview

2017 Finsbury Park Attack was a terrorist attack carried out by a white male near the Finsbury Park mosque in north London on June 19th, 2017. The incident began when a 48-year-old white man drove over the curb outside the Muslim Welfare House as people were leaving nearby prayer services and breaking Ramadan fast, leaving one person dead and 10 injured. Within minutes, the attack was labeled a terrorist attack as the attacker was reported saying, "I want to kill Muslims. I want to kill Muslims."

Background

On June 19th, 2017 at about 12:20 am (local time), a crowd from a nearby mosque had gathered to help an elderly Muslim man who had fallen down on Whadcoat Road. Just then, a white van drove onto the curb outside of the Muslim Welfare House on Seven Sisters Road in Finsbury Park, London, hitting several people helping the man and were taking part in the evening prayers after breaking Ramadan fast at the nearby Finsbury Park Mosque. People on the scene restrained the van's driver, a 48-year-old white male.

2017 Terror Attacks in the UK

The Finsbury Park attack marks the fourth major terrorist attack in England this year. In March, another deadly vehicular assault in Westminster, followed by a suicide bomber at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, and finally, a second vehicle attack. These attacks have killed at least 30 people and injured dozens more.

Developments

Following the attack, people on the scene restrained the driver as a local Imam, a Muslim prayer leader, stopped the crowd from attack the attacker. Within minutes, emergency services were called. Eyewitnesses reported that the attacker attempted to run while screaming "I want to kill Muslims."

Emergency Response

That day, Police confirmed the death of one victim, the same person the crowd had attempted to help just before the attack. Furthermore, they had confirmed that as many as nine people were being treated at nearby hospitals and some were in serious condition. All victims were Muslims, according to police.

Online Reaction

That day, Twitter published several Moments pages about the attack, including ones on the Imam who protected the attacker,^[2] Theresa May's response,^[3] eyewitness accounts^[4][5] and more. On Reddit, a thread entitled "Van hits pedestrians near Finsbury Park Mosque in London" received more than 43,000 points (80% upvoted) and 15,000 comments within 15 hours.^[6]

Media Coverage

The morning of the attack, virtually all national news outlets covered the incident, including BBC, The New York Times,^[7] The Washington Post,^[8] CNN^[9] and more. The subsequent vigil and capture of a suspect was covered internationally in news outlets including News 18 (Russia),^[15] The Japan Times,^[16] The Guardian (UK),^[17] China Daily,^[18] and many more worldwide.

Government Response

Later that day, British Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the incident as a terrorist attack,^[19] calling "it every bit as sickening as those which have come before" (video below, left).

Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn visited the scene and said that "an attack on a mosque, an attack on a synagogue, an attack on a church is actually an attack on all of us." (video below, right).

Tommy Robinson Controversy

That day, former English Defence League (EDL) leader Tommy Robinson tweeted "Before people start aiming hate or threats at me about this revenge attack at your mosque tonight,I've warned for yrs what u will create."^[10] The tweet (shown below, left) received more than 1,100 retweets and 3,300 likes in 12 hours. He followed this tweet with another, writing "The mosque where the attack happened tonight has a long history of creating terrorists & radical jihadists & promoting hate & segregation."^[11] The second tweet (shown below, right) received more than 3,100 retweets and 5,700 likes in 12 hours.

After people took issue with Robinson's comments, claiming that he was inciting hatred and attempting to justify the attack, Robinson tweeted twice more (below, left and right, respectively). First, he said, "im not justifying it,I've said many times if government or police don't sort these centres of hate they will create monsters as seen tonight."^[12] He then wrote, "I genuinely hope the innocent people targeted tonight outside the mosque are ok."^[13]

Finally, he posted a video to his Facebook account, explaining his views on the attack. The post receied more than 670,000 views, 34,000 reactions, and 12,100 likes.^[14]

Search Interest

External References