Driver Crashes Car Into Barriers Outside U.K. Parliament

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Police officers near the site where a car crashed outside the Houses of Parliament in London on Tuesday.CreditHannah Mckay/Reuters

By Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura

Aug. 14, 2018

LONDON — A car crashed into the gates of the Houses of Parliament in London early Tuesday, injuring a number of pedestrians, according to the police, who detained the male driver.

Officers set up a security cordon around Parliament Square, with around a dozen police cars and ambulances parked at the site, and helicopters flew overhead. Armed police officers stood guard, and video footage on Twitter showed them urging people to leave the area.

Westminster Bridge was closed to cars, the police directed pedestrians to alternative routes, and the nearby Westminster subway station was closed. None of those injured were believed to be in life-threatening condition, the police said.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman declined to say whether the episode might have been a terrorist act.

“At 7.37 a.m. today, a car was in collision with barriers outside the Houses of Parliament,” a police statement read. “The male driver of the car was detained by officers at the scene. A number of pedestrians have been injured. Officers remain at the scene.”

Westminster, the locus of British politics, has been under tight security since last year. In March 2017, an assailant driving a sport utility vehicle mowed down pedestrians and stabbed a police officer, prompting the evacuation of the prime minister. At least four people, including the assailant, were killed and at least 40 others injured.

A month later, a 27-year-old man carrying knives was arrested near Parliament by the police, who charged him with planning a terrorist attack. No one was hurt.

And in June that year, three men killed six civilians near London Bridge and a nearby market, and wounded dozens more.

Prashant S. Rao contributed reporting.