Armed police have surrounded a car and arrested a man after a number of pedestrians were hit before ploughing into security barriers outside Parliament today.
Witnesses heard a “loud bang” as the silver vehicle hit barriers in Westminster at around 7.30am this morning.
Around a dozen armed officers swamped the vehicle and trained their rifles on a man in a black puffa coat who was pulled from the car and taken away, the Daily Mail reported.
BREAKING: Footage on social media showed heavily-armed police response units arriving at the scene, with the area outside the #parliament building in central #London sealed off. https://t.co/xK7Xr44x8u pic.twitter.com/2M4csZ5xLA
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) August 14, 2018
Scotland Yard said this morning they were currently treating the incident as a serious road traffic collision and arrested a suspect at the scene.
But a large cordon was set up around Parliament this morning and up to 200 officers have been sent to Westminster who moved members of the public away from the scene.
The Houses of Parliament was also on lockdown and entrances were closed after the incident.
The crash came 17 months after Khalid Masood drove into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before stabbing to death PC Keith Palmer at the gates of Parliament.
Witnesses said officers initially stood back and said it seemed as if they were concerned that the car may have contained a bomb.
