The Home Office of the United Kingdom is on lockdown after a knife attack on a nearby street left one man injured and one in custody.
London Metropolitan Police confirmed on Thursday that they had responded to a report that there was a man wielding a knife on Marsham Street, where the Home Office is located. Emergency response officials treated one individual who was bleeding from alleged knife wounds. Police arrested a man “on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.”
The assumed victim was seen being escorted by police after being treated for his wounds with a bloodied cloth pressed to his face. Police had roped off a large portion of the area and blocked all entrance to and from the Home Office after the arrest. “Sometime later a gentleman was escorted out by paramedics with what looked like dressing pressed to his face, which looked quite bloodied, and his shirt was open,” one witness said. “[I] could not tell if blood on body was from face.”
U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel described the attack as both “horrific” and “unprovoked.” “All my thoughts are with the victim and their family following [a] horrific unprovoked knife attack on Marsham Street,” Patel said in a statement on Thursday afternoon.
A motivation for the knife attack is not immediately clear and authorities have not said whether they suspect more than one individual to be involved. The Home Office has been vocal in their attempts to curb knife crime in the U.K. recently unveiling a campaign called #KnifeFree which distributed anti-knife packaging to several chain chicken restaurants in the London area.
Some found the Home Office’s approach to be racially insensitive. “This initiative seeks to target chicken shops because the assumption is that’s where young black people go,” said former chief superintendent with the Metropolitan Police Dal Babu. “There’s a racial element to it — it stereotypes people, it’s patronising and I can understand why people see it as racist.”
UPDATE: Police stated that they had a 29-year-old man in custody who was carrying a knife as well as a banned “CS” spray that is similar to tear gas. Witnesses said the suspect also carried a pet carrier that contained a live ferret. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said that circumstances that led to the stabbing were still being investigated.
The victim of the stabbing, seen walking with police, was reportedly taken to a Central London hospital. His condition is not known, but police confirmed that his family was notified of the incident.
This story is developing and will be updated as details become available.
