Car drives into barrier outside Britain's Parliament, injuring 2 bystanders


At a little after 7:30 Tuesday morning in London, a car crashed into a security barrier outside Britain's Parliament building, injuring at least two pedestrians, neither seriously. There was a large and rapid response from armed police officers, and the male driver was arrested without incident. "While we are keeping an open mind," Scotland Yard said in a statement, "the Met's Counter-Terrorism Command is leading the investigation into the Westminster incident." Parliament is not in session, but the area around Parliament Square and subway stations in the area were closed to the public.
BBC staffer Barry Williams told BBC News he witnessed the crash. "The car went onto the wrong side of the road to where cyclists were waiting at lights and ploughed into them," he said. "Then it swerved back across the road and accelerated as fast as possible and hit the barrier at full pelt. It was a small silver car and he hit it at such speed the car actually lifted off the ground and bounced. Then the police just jumped. Two officers managed to leap over the security barriers and then the armed police vehicles all sped towards the scene." Security barriers around Parliament were beefed up after a driver deliberately plowed into pedestrians on nearby Westminster Bridge in March 2017, killing four people.
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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