A non-fatal stabbing on Saturday night was “inspired by the far right” and has now been declared a terrorism incident, police have said.
A 50-year-old man was arrested yesterday in Stanwell, Surrey, on suspicion of attempted murder and racially aggravated public order.
The 19-year-old victim sustained non-life threatening injuries and remains in hospital.
Surrey Police were called to Viola Avenue just before 10.30pm to reports of a man acting aggressively and shouting racist comments whilst carrying a baseball bat and a knife.
On Twitter, Prime Minister Theresa May said “vile, hateful far-right extremism has no place in our society” as she thanked the emergency services “for their handling of the terrorist incident”.
Assistant commissioner Neil Basu, the Metropolitan Police’s head of counter terrorism policing, said “it has hallmarks of a terror event, inspired by the far right, and therefore it has been declared a terrorism incident”.
He said: “While this investigation is still in its infancy, it has hallmarks of a terror event, inspired by the far right, and therefore it has been declared a terrorism incident.
“This allows us to use all of the specialist capabilities available to establish the full circumstances of this attack.
“Police are committed to tackling all forms of toxic extremist ideology, which has the potential to threaten public safety and security.”
Detective Superintendent Karen Mizzi, of Surrey Police, said it was a “shocking and worrying incident”.
Officers will be out on patrol in the area and visiting places of worship and businesses, he said, and urged any witnesses or anyone who sees anything suspicious to report it to police.
Nemer Salem, who lives about 50 metres down the same road, said he heard a man shouting racist slurs out of a window on Saturday night at around 8pm.
Salem, who came to London six years ago from Syria, said he had moved to the area two weeks ago.
The 24-year-old said: “He started saying some crazy things about Muslims and just shut the window and went inside. I’m a Muslim and I got a little bit worried.”
He added: “He wasn’t showing himself, he was opening the window but the curtain was closed. I felt worried and I just speeded up.”
Abhishek Agrawal, 40, and his wife Tanu, 36, who run catering company Indian Homemade, based in the street, said they were shocked and scared by news of the attack.
Agrawal said: “Last night I saw a helicopter so we knew something was happening. We could hear it flying above the area for a long time.
“We didn’t know what happened until today.
“We have lived here for nearly a decade and have never heard of anything like this happening.
“It’s very scary to hear this has happened, I work in central London and often come back late on the last bus.”
Agrawal said: “It’s very scary and sad. It’s a very quiet area. We have never heard of anything like this.”