Man arrested after car crashes into UK parliament barrier

A man has been arrested after his car crashed into security barriers outside the UK’s Houses of Parliament and injured several people.

London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement on Twitter a number of pedestrians were wounded but did not say if they suspected terrorism, calling it only a “collision”.

“The male driver of the car was detained by officers at the scene,” a police statement said.

It later added, “officers do not believe that anybody is in a life-threatening condition”.

However, witnesses described the car as being driven at high speed before it hit the barriers.

“The car drove at speed into the barriers outside the House of Lords,” Ewelina Ochab told The Associated Press.

“There was a loud bang from the collision and a bit of smoke. The driver did not get out. The guards started screaming to people to move away.”

Images circulating on social media showed police holding the man, dressed in jeans and a black puffer jacket, after officers swarmed his vehicle with weapons drawn.

Parliament was placed on lockdown and surrounding streets in the central London district were cordoned off to the public. 

A police spokeswoman said: “We’re still trying to piece it together.”

Euronews/NBC UK correspondent Vincent McAviney tweeted a video of the incident as police officers rushed to the scene.

Breaking: Big armed police response to car which has cashed into Parliament barriers we are now being moved back pic.twitter.com/rYAqExq6rn

— Vincent McAviney (@VinnyMcAv) August 14, 2018

Al Jazeera’s Laurence Lee, reporting from Millbank, a few hundred metres from the crash, said while it appeared the car was deliberately driven into the barriers, it wasn’t a successful attack.

“While the incident has blindsided everybody, it’s very quiet here. Parliament is currently on summer recess, so if it was a deliberate attack, it hasn’t been particularly successful one for the attacker.”

The crash comes 17 months after Khalid Masood, born as Adrian Russell Elms, drove his vehicle at pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before fatally stabbing a policeman on guard outside parliament.