London terror incident: House of Commons session suspended after car and knife attack
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Your support makes all the difference.Proceedings at the House of Commons have been suspended after a man was shot outside Parliament.
Staff inside the building were told to stay in their offices. MPs that were in the chamber when sitting was suspended were told to stay inside the House of Commons.
Commons Leader David Lidington has told MPs a "police officer has been stabbed" and the "alleged assailant was shot by armed police" following a "serious" incident within the parliamentary estate.
Parliament will be in shutdown until further notice, the Speaker said.
Officials made the announcement in the chamber as parliamentary activity was going on.
London police said they were called to a firearms incident on Westminster Bridge near the British parliament on Wednesday.
"We were called at approx 2:40 pm to reports of an incident at Westminster Bridge. Being treated as a firearms incident - police on scene," the Metropolitan police said on Twitter.
Dennis Burns, who was just entering Parliament for a meeting when the security alert happened, told the Press Association: "As I was coming through the doors at Portcullis House, a policeman grabbed someone who was coming in and threw him out.
"As we were coming though the glass doors I was told by one security guard to get out while another one told me to get in.
"As I walked in I heard a security guard get a radio message saying 'a policeman has been stabbed'.
"Then I walked in as police officers and security start rushing out of the front doors on to the street.
"When I got inside I was wondering what the hell was going on and I saw dozens of panicked people running down the street. The first stream was around 30 people and the second stream was 70 people.
"It looked like they were running for their lives."
Commons leader David Lidington said the House of Commons would "remain in lockdown" until further notice.
He said: "I shall endeavour to do the very best I can, both at the despatch box and by communicating with my opposite numbers in other political parties, to ensure that Members are kept aware of what is happening but at the moment the very clear advice from the police and the director of security in the House is that we should remain under suspension and that the chamber should remain in lockdown until we receive advice that it is safe to go back to normal procedures."
Shadow leader of the House Valerie Vaz said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the police officer and to thank the police and all the security services and all the staff for looking after us so well."
Mr Lidington, in a later statement to MPs, confirmed the House of Commons would adjourn for the day.
He said: "There have been conversations through the usual channels.
"I hope the House would agree that in the current circumstances it would not be right to continue with today's business."
MPs shouted in favour of a motion to adjourn the sitting.
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Daily Mail political editor Jason Groves witnessed the incident from his office window.He said: "I heard a bang coming from Westminster Tube station, looked out the window, there's a commotion, armed cops were running, the crowd of people outside were running as if for their lives."A guy comes through the vehicle entrance wielding something, towards a copper, the copper tumbles."The man's running towards Westminster Hall, and then you've got a plain clothes copper comes running out."Not from the gate, but from the inside, shoots him once from maybe 10 or 15 yards away with a handgun, and then gets closer to him and shoots him again from over him and he doesn't get up."
Police have warned that pictures shouldn't necessarily be shared, but that they should all be passed on to the police. 
If you have photos or film of the incident in #Westminster please make sure you pass them to police https://t.co/l9dn1FQr7B
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Please use common sense and restraint in circulating pictures and videos of those that have been injured during the incident in #Westminster
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Witness Rick Longley told the Press Association that he saw a man stab a policeman outside Britain's Parliament."We were just walking up to the station and there was a loud bang and a guy, someone, crashed a car and took some pedestrians out," he said."They were just laying there and then the whole crowd just surged around the corner by the gates just opposite Big Ben."A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman."I have never seen anything like that. I just can't believe what I just saw."Lawmaker Adam Holloway told the AP he saw people running and immediately ran into his offices in Parliament to be with his staff. "A lot of us are locked in with our staff at the moment," he said.
Staff and visitors at St Thomas' and Evelina London Hospitals are being advised to remain on site during the current security incident.
Eyewitness Ismael Hassan tells me he saw a 4x4 zig zag up Westminster Bridge hit around 10 people. He was two metres from the car.
Holyrood suspended out of respect for our sister Parliament and all that's going on in Westminster. Thoughts with all down the road
Kathy Casatelli, 58, saw a car rammed into the front gates of the palace and a man being treated on the floor.She said: "We were coming up from the Tube and we walked out and there were officers there with their guns drawn."I saw this car that was smashed into the gate. It was a grey BMW, it looked like a nice car. The whole windshield was smashed."There was a man on the ground, it looked like he was moving. I don't know if he was the driver."Ms Casatelli, from Syracuse in the US and on holiday in London since Saturday, said she heard that someone had been wielding a knife.She said: "One of the officers was trying to him."He wasn't moving very much, I thought I saw him moving."I don't know if he was riding a bike and got hit. There was somebody with him and he was there with his hands on his head."I don't know if they were walking or biking and it hit them."Police extended the cordon back up Broad Sanctuary beyond Westminster Abbey to the junction with Victoria Street.Four police vans arrived at the scene at 3.40pm, as the air ambulance took off.
In a statement Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "Reports suggest the ongoing incident in Westminster this afternoon is extremely serious."Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrific attack, (their) families and friends."The police and security staff have taken swift action to ensure the safety of the public, MPs and staff, and we are grateful to them."
These students from Edge Hill University were on a politics trip to the Houses of Paliament when they went out for a break & heard gunshots http://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7iNeyxXwAE5kLN.jpg
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