The first day of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trip to Sadiq Khan’s London was marked by seven “major incidents” including a shooting, multiple stabbings, and a knifeman roving through Gatwick Airport.
President Trump and Mayor Khan waged a war of words throughout the state visit, with the Labour politician branding the President a “far right” figure reminiscent of a “20th-century fascist” — a particularly provocative insult, as the American leader was in the United Kingdom to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in which American, British, and Canadian servicemen went into battle together against European fascism — and the President firing back that Khan was a “stone cold loser” who had done a “terrible job” on crime.
In an interview with Good Morning Britain later on in his trip, the President observed that “In London you have stabbings all over… everybody is being stabbed.”
His observation was not entirely unjustified, with MyLondon reporting three stabbings among seven “major incidents” on day one of his trip.
WATCH | Yet another disgraceful attack in London today as an elderly Trump supporter is assaulted and shoved to the ground by the self-appointed anti-fascists shortly after Jeremy Corbyn's anti-hate speech.
This is hate. This is fascism.
🙋♂️ Support us at https://t.co/iICfFb8qqg pic.twitter.com/LJqPoiWxWF
— Leave.EU (@LeaveEUOfficial) June 4, 2019
Probably the most serious of these stabbings took place in Croydon, where a 24-year-old male staggered into a petrol station and pleaded with the cashier to call 999 — the British emergency services numbers — after being stabbed multiple times.
The cashier, while shaken, was not surprised by the incident, describing such events as “common”.
Another stabbing near the London Underground station servicing Finsbury Park — home to the notorious Finsbury Park Mosque — saw a man in his thirties stabbed in the leg, and “taken to an east London hospital where his injuries were assessed as not life-threatening or life-changing”, according to a police spokesman.
Khan's London: Average of 40 Knife Crimes Every Day https://t.co/xl4qZOjJfq
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 7, 2019
Still another incident in Uxbridge saw a man in his 40s being shot at a residential address — an increasingly common occurrence, despite the United Kingdom’s draconian restrictions on gun-ownership, including a near-total ban on handguns.
One resident of the neighbourhood said they felt like a “prisoner in [their] own home” following the shooting, and that the area has become plagued by crime.
“My kids can’t even attend school for safety reasons,” they said. “We’ve been prisoners in our own home. We are all terrified.”
Man armed with two kitchen knives is tasered at London's Gatwick Airport.https://t.co/c254Lp9z2r pic.twitter.com/9r6j5gprH5
— Secret Flying (@SecretFlying) June 4, 2019
Perhaps the most dramatic of the seven “major incidents” which were related to crime involved a knifeman roving Gatwick Airport, although it was thankfully brought to a close without bloodshed by police officers armed with tasers.
One of the airport’s terminals had to be evacuated after man police described as wielding two eight-inch kitchen knives and making threats to kill breached a staff-only area late at night.
“The first thing I noticed was the baggage handlers leg it in,” said one passenger of the call for the terminal to be cleared.
“There was a mad rush. We are a bit shaken up. It was very much a close call,” he said.
“Apparently he was one door away from entering baggage claim. I’d say there were about 100 to 150 people in there. There were lots of children about,” he recalled.
Police say they do not currently believe the incident was terror-related.
‘I Love Your Country’: President Trump Praises Queen, Remembers His British Roots https://t.co/45N1pTVmPN
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 5, 2019
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