Sadiq Khan on London Bridge Attack: Terrorists 'Hate Our Diversity'
London mayor claims terrorists attack British capital because 'diversity is our strength'
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In the wake of Friday's terror attack on London Bridge, that left two people dead, Mayor Sadiq Khan has responded by claiming "diversity" in the British capital motivates terrorists to kill innocent people because it's "our strength."
Mayor Khan also suggested that being a target for terrorism in London is just "part and parcel" of being in a "great global city."
“Look, I’m mayor of the greatest city in the world, and one of our strengths is our diversity,” he told reporters.
Sadiq Khan was commenting on the attack carried out by ISIS-backed terrorist Usman Khan, who was shot dead by police.
Usman Khan was a convicted radical Islamic terrorist who had been freed from prison early, after serving less than half of a 16-year term, allowing him to launch a fresh attack, killing two people and leaving three injured.
“But we do know there are people out there who hate our diversity, hate what we stand for, and are trying to seek to divide us,” he added — although his basis for seemingly suggesting that terrorists attack the UK for being diverse was unclear.
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According to Breitbart, Mayor Khan then flirted with controversy with a statement echoing an earlier, infamous former claim of his with respect to terror attacks — i.e. that “part and parcel of living in a great global city is you’ve got to be prepared for these things” — by telling reporters:
“Look, I know, speaking to colleagues around the world, mayors of other great cities, that we’re all targets for terrorists.”
Some critics of the Mayor of London have suggested that such attacks only appear to be a feature of life in cities such as London, while in a relatively homogenous place like the Japanese capital of Tokyo they are exceedingly rare — although not entirely unknown.
British Prime Minister #BorisJohnson has vowed to tear up liberal "human rights" laws that allowed a convicted terrorist to be let out of prison early and launch another terror attack on #LondonBridge Friday.
— Neon Nettle (@NeonNettle) December 1, 2019
READ MORE: https://t.co/Y6tWpI6Iuj
#LondonBridgeAttack
Mayor Khan went on to say that London would have suffered even more deadly terror attacks like the one perpetrated by Usman Khan if not for the efforts of the authorities, confirming that “since the four terror incidents in 2017, because of the excellent work that police and the security services and because of the intelligence provided by members of the public, we’ve thwarted more than twenty attempts at terrorism on innocent citizens.”
“[W]hat’s really important is we all remain vigilant,” he warned.
“If anyone sees anything suspicious please report it to the police.
"Err on the side of caution - I’d rather people overreport to the police and the experts than under-report,” he added.
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The Labour politician also praised the heroism of the have-a-go heroes who tackled Usman Khan armed with nothing but their bare hands, a fire extinguisher, and a narwhal tusk.
The footage of bystanders - one armed with a fire-extinguisher and a Polish chef with a narwhal tusk - tackling the London Bridge attacker is simply remarkable. Incredible courage. https://t.co/a85D6Up7JA
— Richard Chambers (@newschambers) November 30, 2019
Khan also hailed the emergency services, saying that “What was amazing about today, was we saw in one individual, the suspect, the worst of humanity, but we also saw in the response from members of the public but also our emergency services the very vest of humanity.”
“[T]he message I want to send… is we are resolute, we stand united in the face of terrorism, and we will not allow anybody to divide us,” he insisted.
