A man wielding a knife has allegedly stabbed one person at a train station in London while shouting “Death to Muslims” and “Go back to Syria”, the Press Association has reported.
According to eyewitnesses, a man “shouting uncontrollably” and acting erratically stabbed one person who is in hospital but not believed to be in life-threatening condition.
Witnesses described the alleged attacker as “black, wearing a dark Barbour jacket and dark jeans”. He is now in police custody, and police say they are not treating the incident as terror related.
“He looked about 5′ 7′ or 5′ 8′ and he was marching down the train kind of muttering loudly to himself, so everyone could hear: ‘I’m going to kill me a Muslim’, that’s what I kept hearing him say,” said eyewitness Richard Etienne.
Another witness, Miguel Oliveira said he was “face-to-face” with the knifeman.
“The first few [people] were shouting ‘he’s got a knife, he’s got a knife’ and then all of a sudden the next ones said ‘Oh he’s been stabbed, call the police'”.
A British Transport Police spokesman said: “We are currently at Forest Hill railway station, after being called to a serious assault at 1.18pm. One person has been arrested following the incident and is currently in police custody.
“One man was treated by ambulance staff at the scene and is currently en route to hospital. We are still investigating the circumstances of this incident but at this time, we are not treating it as terrorism-related.”
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Langley said: “This was a serious assault on a man in broad daylight and we are aware that other passengers may have seen what happened or been threatened themselves.
“We have spoken with many witnesses from the train but if you saw what happened and haven’t yet contacted police, please do so as soon as you can.”
Services were stopped on the rail line but have since reopened with severe delays, London Overground said. Roads around the station were also shut for a while.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.