Man stabbed outside British Museum in random attack; suspect arrested

Police evacuated guests from the British Museum Tuesday morning after a person was stabbed close to London’s famend landmark.

A suspect was arrested on suspicion of inflicting grievous physique hurt following the knife assault, which occurred round 10 a.m. native time on the intersection of Russell Road and Museum Road, the place guests usually wait in line to enter the favored attraction.

The sufferer, described by a witness as a “vacationer,” was knifed within the arm and was taken to a significant trauma heart “as a precedence” after receiving first assist on the scene, in keeping with London Ambulance Service.

There was no fast phrase on the sufferer’s situation.

The British Museum was evacuated and remained briefly closed.

“This was an remoted incident and there’s no excellent threat to the general public,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. “It isn’t being handled as terror-related.”

In response to an eyewitness chatting with the news outlet LBC, he noticed a person with a “massive knife showing indignant” and “speaking to himself” earlier than the assault.

The witness mentioned he was standing within the queue together with his girlfriend and a pal when he “noticed a person taking a giant knife or a machete from is bag, with very indignant face expression. And [he] began punching a younger man close to him.”

A 27-year-old customer from New York advised the company PA Information that she was about to enter the road on the British Museum when she was advised to go away by the police as a result of somebody had been stabbed.

“A cop immediately in entrance of us advised us we wanted to go away and that the crime scene was massive,” she mentioned. “I heard that somebody was stabbed and the ambulance was parked inside, close to the grass space, after which rushed down the road, proper by me, with police following behind.”

A police tent has been erected on the pavement simply steps away from the museum, and the scene was anticipated to stay in place for a lot of the day.

Based in 1753, the British Museum is without doubt one of the UK’s most visited museums, drawing greater than 4 million company final 12 months.