Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Muslim community raises £3,000 in just one hour in support of Westminster terror attack victims

Funds will be used to support victims and victims’ families

Harry Cockburn
Thursday 23 March 2017 11:57 GMT
A police officer places flowers and a photo of PC Keith Palmer on Whitehall near the Houses of Parliament
A police officer places flowers and a photo of PC Keith Palmer on Whitehall near the Houses of Parliament (PA)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A Muslim-led campaign to raise money to support the families of victims of the Westminster terror attack has seen donations soar above £3,000 an hour after launching.

Muslims United for London saw donations flood in immediately after launching the online donations page.

The funds will be used to support victims and victims’ families of the terror attack in Westminster on Wednesday in which four people died and 40 injured.

Woman fell into Thames after being hit by car, now in stable condition

Those killed include a police officer on duty outside Parliament, who was named as PC Keith Palmer, 48, and Aysha Frade, a Spanish teacher who worked at DLD College London.

In a statement Muslims United for London said: “The British Muslim community stands with the community during these difficult times and extends their support in raising funds to help with the immediate, short-term needs of the families of Keith Palmer, the other victims and the families of the victims.

“While no amount of money will bring back lives lost or take away from the pain the victims and their families are going through, we hope to lessen their burden in some way.”

Muddassar Ahmed, who launched the page, told ITV last night he had seen the aftermath of the attack from his office window.

“I was in a meeting and suddenly my phone started going off and people started calling me. We looked out of the window and we saw a scene of horror.

“It was so shocking and completely out of the blue,” he said. “It’s something you hear about, but never expect to experience.”

The group said “100 per cent of funds collected through this campaign will go to the victims and the families of the victims most affected by the tragic events that unfolded on March 22, 2017, in our community.”

The campaign comes as Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, has called for increased security outside Mosques.

In a statement he said: “The terrorists aim to divide communities, the far right are doing the work of these terrorist groups by perpetuating the division and hatred, but as British citizens, we will continue to work to bring people together and defeat the ideology of violence.

“Sadly, after such terrorist atrocities innocent Muslims and our Mosques are deliberately targeted as acts of Muslim hatred, we need to remain vigilant and resolute to not allow anyone to divide our communities.

“I want to pay tribute to PC Keith Palmer killed yesterday in the line of service defending our democracy; we pay tribute to him and offer our prayers, condolences and solidarity to his family and friends.”

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in