Cyclists injured as car rams into UK parliament gate

LONDON -- London's Metropolitan Police service said Tuesday that a man was in custody after driving a car into a gate outside the Houses of Parliament in the British capital, injuring "a number of pedestrians." It remained unclear whether the crash was intentional. Police said they were "keeping an open mind," but noted that the counter-terrorism division was taking the lead in the investigation.

Streets in the area surrounding the British legislature were cordoned off and closed to traffic during peak morning rush hour and there was a heavy police presence. London's ambulance service said it treated two people at the scene that they were taken to an area hospital for further evaluation, but their injuries were not believed to be serious.

Witnesses told British television networks that they saw the car driving toward Parliament at high speed.

While we are keeping an open mind, the Met's Counter-Terrorism Command is leading the investigation into the #Westminster incident.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) August 14, 2018

"I think it looked intentional - the car drove at speed and towards the barriers," Ewalina Ochab told Britain's Press Association. "I was walking on the other side (of the road). I heard some noise and someone screamed. I turned around and I saw a silver car driving very fast close to the railings, maybe even on the pavement," she said.

Barry Williams, another witness, told CBS News partner network BBC News that he saw the silver car "heading towards cyclists" while driving on the wrong side of the road. He said the cyclists were waiting for the lights to change, adding: "He hit the cyclists and then swerved over towards the safety barrier... and accelerated and hit it at quite high speed."

"I don't know whether he meant to hit the cyclist, they may just have been in the way, but he accelerated hard towards the barrier," Williams told the BBC. He said the car "actually came off the ground and landed again" as it slammed into the barrier and there was "a lot of smoke."

Williams said there were, "about 10 cyclists waiting for the lights to change, I don't think he hit all of them, he hit about four or five," one of whom Williams saw get up and start "to chase the car."

I’m in close contact with @MetPoliceUK Commissioner about the incident at Parliament Square this morning. Thank you to the first responders who were on the scene so quickly.
Enquiries are continuing. Westminster tube station is currently closed. Follow @metpoliceuk for updates. https://t.co/Uf2U85o0My
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) August 14, 2018

Police at the scene told CBS News it was an ongoing incident. The vehicle involved, a small silver hatchback, could be seen with its front end smashed into the security barrier at a vehicle security checkpoint in the parliament perimeter fence.

Westminster station on the London Underground, or Tube network, the closest station to the Houses of Parliament, was closed.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan sent a tweet thanking the city's first responders for their quick response to the incident.

London Metropolitan Police are seen taking into custody the driver (center) of a silver car which crashed into a perimeter gate of the British Houses of Parliament in London, Aug. 14, 2018.
APTN

The crash comes about a year and a half after a terrorist drove his car into a number of people outside parliament and then attacked others with a knife, leaving a total of four people dead. Police said Khalid Masood -- a 52-year-old Briton with convictions for violence who had spent several years in Saudi Arabia -- was believed to have acted alone in the attack, but that he may have been inspired by others.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed Masood was a "soldier" responding to its repeated calls for attacks on western nations. Police said, however, that they found "no evidence" of any links to ISIS or al Qaeda.

Masood was killed by police after fatally stabbing an officer and running down pedestrians with his rented SUV. It was the deadliest extremist attack in Britain in 12 years.

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