Theresa May heckled as she leaves Finsbury Park mosque after van terror attack on Muslims
‘How come you were so quick today?’ shouts bystander, apparently referring to Grenfell Tower aftermath
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May has been heckled while leaving a Finsbury Park mosque, where she had been visiting community leaders after a terror attack on Muslim worshippers.
One man was heard shouting, “How come you were so quick today? Kensington you weren’t so fast,” as the Prime Minister emerged from the centre, in an apparent reference to her initial failure to visit victims of the Grenfell Tower fire.
As a number of people surrounding the place of worship yelled at the leader, the same man could be heard asking, “Ms May, have you got a personal taxi today?”.
Another shouted for her to “come out and talk to us” and, according to reports, protesters called out, “May must go”.
The Prime Minister made her visit in the early afternoon, having chaired a meeting of the Government’s Cobra committee. She met a group of community representatives inside the mosque as a number of political leaders made their presence felt.
Earlier on Monday Ms May had announced security around mosques would be reviewed in the wake of the attack, which injured 10 people.
One man, who had been receiving first aid before the van crashed into pedestrians outside the Muslim Welfare House, died afterwards.
“Extra police resources have already been deployed to reassure communities, and the police will continue to assess the security needs of mosques, and provide any additional resources needed, especially during this final week before Eid al-Fitr, a particularly important time for the whole Muslim community,” Ms May said in Downing Street.
She said the attack, at about 12.20am on Monday, targeted the “ordinary and innocent” and added: “Hatred and evil of this kind will never succeed.”
A 47-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
Ms May has faced criticism for her personal response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy when, on her first visit to the site, she met only with emergency workers due to security concerns.
She later made a second visit, meeting with victims and community leaders privately in a church. The Queen and Prince William met with Grenfell relief volunteers and others at a sports centre.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, in whose constituency the Muslim Welfare House sits, visited the centre early on Monday morning and said he was “shocked by this horrific and cruel attack”.
“If someone makes an attack on a synagogue, an attack on a temple or an attack on a church, an attack on a mosque, it is an attack on all of us that believe in a diverse society and our rights of cultural freedom in this country,” he added.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick have also made their way to the site of the attack in Seven Sisters Road.
Ms Dick said: “This was quite clearly an attack on Muslims who looked like they were probably Muslims and they were coming from a prayer meeting. We treat this as a terrorist attack. Sadly we have suffered a number of attacks and very sad events over the last few weeks.”
Mr Khan was defiant as he declared: “These have been a terrible few weeks for London, unprecedented in recent times.
“We have seen the horror of the fire at Grenfell Tower, we have seen the attack on London Bridge and before that on Westminster Bridge and we saw last night the terrorist attack here in Seven Sisters.
“We will stay a strong city, we will ensure we are not cowed by terrorism, and we will not be defeated.”