The fatal stabbing of British lawmaker David Amess was a terrorist incident, police said yesterday, as lawmakers pressed for tougher security in the wake of the second killing of a British politician while meeting constituents in just over five years.
Veteran Conservative lawmaker David Amess, 69, was talking with voters at a church in the small town of Leigh-on-Sea, east of London, when he was stabbed to death on Friday.
Police said that they arrested a 25-year-old suspect and were investigating “a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism.”
Photo: Reuters
Police have said the investigation is in the “very early stages,” although multiple British media outlets, citing sources, reported that the suspect was believed to be a British national with Somalian heritage.
The Sun tabloid reported that the attacker stabbed Amess multiple times in the presence of two female staff, before sitting down and waiting for police to arrive.
Police said they believed that the attacker acted alone and carried out searches at two addresses in the London area.
Photo: AFP / Richard Townshend / UK Parliament
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday visited the scene to pay his respects, laying floral wreaths outside the church with opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer in a rare show of unity, along with British House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle and British Secretary of State for the Home Department Priti Patel.
Members of the public also came to lay bouquets next to the police tape surrounding the crime scene.
One bouquet enclosed a handwritten note saying: “RIP Sir David. You did not deserve this.”
Britain’s politicians were stunned by the highly public attack, which recalled the murder of a pro-EU lawmaker ahead of the Brexit referendum.
In June 2016, Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was killed by a far-right extremist, prompting demands for action against what lawmakers said was “a rising tide” of public abuse and threats against elected representatives.
Patel on Friday ordered police across the country to review security arrangements for all 650 lawmakers.
At the same time she insisted the attack would not stop lawmakers from holding face-to-face meetings with residents in the areas they represent.
“We will carry on... We live in an open society, a democracy. We cannot be cowed by any individual,” she told Sky News after the wreath-laying.
Hoyle promised no “knee-jerk reactions,” but told Sky News: “We will take further measures if we need to.”
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