British government orders security review after deadly terrorist attack on MP
The fatal stabbing of British lawmaker David Amess was a terrorist incident with possible links to Islamist extremism, police said on Saturday, when the government ordered a review of security measures to protect MPs.
Conservative veteran MP David Amess, 69, was speaking to voters at a church in the small east London town of Leigh-on-Sea when he was stabbed to death on Friday.
Police said they arrested a 25-year-old suspect and were investigating “a possible motivation linked to Islamist extremism.”
The fatal stabbing has been “declared a terrorist incident, and the investigation is being carried out by the Antiterrorist Police,” police said in a statement, adding that the investigation is in “the early stages.”
Various UK media outlets, citing sources, reported that the suspect was believed to be a British national of Somali descent.
The tabloid Sun reported that the attacker stabbed Amess multiple times in the presence of two female staff, before sitting down and waiting for police to arrive.
Police said they believed the attacker acted alone and conducted two-way searches in the London area.
‘Good parliamentarian’
Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the crime scene to pay his respects Saturday, laying wreaths outside the church with the opposition leader, Labor leader Keir Starmer, in a rare show of unity.
Johnson tweeted a photo of the note he left calling Amess, a Southend West MP since 1997, a “good MP and a very dear colleague and friend.”
Local residents, including members of the Muslim community, also attended with bouquets of flowers alongside the police tape.
British politicians were stunned by the so public attack, which was reminiscent of the assassination of a pro-EU lawmaker before the Brexit referendum.
In June 2016, Labor MP Jo Cox was assassinated by a far-right extremist, prompting lawsuits for action against what lawmakers said was “a rising tide” of public abuse and threats against elected officials.
Interior Minister Priti Patel on Friday ordered police across the country to review security arrangements for the 650 MPs.
‘Can’t cower’
“We will continue … We live in an open society, a democracy. We cannot be intimidated by any individual,” he told reporters after laying a wreath for his fellow MP from Essex.
The Speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle, did not promise “knee-jerk reactions” but told Sky News: “We will take further action if necessary.”
Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative MP who tried to save a police officer stabbed during a 2017 terror attack near the Houses of Parliament, on Twitter urged “a temporary hiatus in face-to-face meetings” until the security review is complete.
Labor MP Harriet Harman also called for greater protection for MPs, telling the BBC: “We cannot allow the death of a MP to be a price worth paying for our democracy.”
Conservative MP David Davis, however, told Sky News that stopping meetings with voters “would be wrong”, calling them “critical to the functioning of British democracy.”
Growing threats
Parliamentarians and their staff have been attacked before, although it is rare.
But his security was emphasized by Brexit, which fueled deep political divisions and has led to often angry partisan rhetoric.
Cox’s killer repeatedly screamed “Britain first” before shooting and stabbing the 41-year-old MP in front of her constituency meeting near Leeds in northern England.
Amess was at the other end of the political spectrum and backed Brexit.
A specialized police unit established to investigate threats against parliamentarians after the aftermath said 678 crimes were reported against lawmakers between 2016 and 2020.
The majority (582) were for malicious communications, although other crimes included harassment (46), terrorism (nine), threats (seven), and common assault (three).
Separate figures indicated a sharp increase in reporting since 2018, including three death threats.
Amess himself wrote about public harassment and online abuse in his book “Ayes & Ears: A Survivor’s Guide to Westminster,” published last year.
“These increasing attacks have quite ruined the great British tradition of people meeting openly with their elected politicians,” he said.
MPs have had to install security cameras and only meet voters by appointment, he added.
Unlike some MPs, Amess publicized voter meeting times on Twitter and held them in public places, while asking people to book in advance.
(AFP)
