London: Tributes were paid on Monday to victims of the London Bridge terror attack, as the government said it was reviewing the early release from prison of dozens of convicted terrorists.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the main opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn and London Mayor Sadiq Khan all joined a vigil to honour Jack Merritt, 25, and 23-year-old Saskia Jones.
They were both killed on Friday when Usman Khan, who was wearing a fake suicide device, went on a knife ramage before being shot dead by armed police.
Khan, 28, had been released early from a 16-year prison sentence for an Al Qaeda-inspired plot to attack central London after being deemed to no longer be a risk to the public.
The incident has provoked questions about legislation, and triggered accusations that the government was seeking to make political capital from the tragedy before a general election.
The memorial event in the City of London financial district, a short distance from the scene of the attack, involved members of the emergency services and the public.
Mayor Khan told them: “The best way to defeat this hatred is not by turning on one another but by focusing on the values that bind us.”
A minute’s silence was also held in Cambridge, where the two victims were university graduates, and were working on a prisoner rehabilitation scheme that Khan had attended.
Johnson has ordered the security services to step up monitoring of convicted terrorists released early, saying the cases of 74 individuals were being scrutinised.
As part of the review, the West Midlands Counter-Terrorism Unit in central England said officers had arrested a 34-year-old man “on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts”. — AFP
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