London, June 22 (IANS) A minute’s silence will be held on Monday for the three victims of a stabbing attack in the UK’s Reading town.
A minute’s silence will be held at 10 a.m., for victims, the BBC quoted mayor of Reading, councillor David Stevens as saying.
People are invited to join the silence via Reading Council’s Facebook page.
According to the Thames Valley Police, police were called to Forbury Gardens in Reading, about 80 km west of London, at about 7 p.m. on Saturday and “a number of people were injured and taken to hospital”.
The lone attacker, identified as Khairi Saadallah, the 25-year-old Libyan national who was arrested at the scene on Saturday, was already on the radar of British security agencies.
He came to the attention of the MI5 last year after a tip-off that he had plans to travel to Syria – potentially for terrorism.
Police said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.
Teacher James Furlong, described as a “kind and gentle” man, was the first victim to be named publicly, while the second was Joe Ritchie-Bennett, his father told CBS news.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has held a meeting with security officials, police and senior ministers over the incident in Reading, and he has promised action “if there are lessons that we need to learn”, said the BBC report.
Labour leaderKeir Starmer has said that “people are united in their grief” following the attack, and that he wants to speak to the prime minister to discuss how to “learn from this”.
–IANS
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