A man was arrested outside of Buckingham Palace at 8:35 BST on Friday, August 25. According to London’s Metropolitan Police Service, the individual, who was in possession of a knife, was incarcerated on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and assault on police.
Two male officers suffered minor injuries to their arms as they detained the man at the Mall outside of Her Majesty’s residence. No other individuals have been reported injured, though officers remain on the scene. Queen Elizabeth was reportedly not in residence when the attack occurred but was at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
Detective Superintendent Guy Collings said: "A man in his mid-20s has been arrested by police after they spotted a weapon inside his car. The quick and brave actions of both officers meant that the suspect was detained very quickly. No members of the public had any interaction with this individual at the scene. He will now be questioned by detectives in police custody. It is too early in this investigation to speculate any further."
Witnesses of the scene included Nicole Kyle, who was on her way home when she saw armed police swoop on the scene. The 25-year-old consultant told the Press Association: "I was walking toward The Mall and St James's Park when I saw police rush down toward the palace in great numbers. As we got further down The Mall we saw armed police outside a police van, at which point we were able to walk closer to the palace still, where we were eventually stopped by a cordon."
She continued: "All we were told was that there's been an incident. A few minutes later police came by to have us clear the area and move further away from the palace. We then saw that police had expanded the cordon. It looks like the cordon is continuing to expand."
Another witness, who has asked not to be named, added: "Something happened before which is why the people ran away. I'm not sure what this was. But people were already scared and I saw the policeman pull the man from the car. The police didn't just run up to the car. There was some shouting prior to this, I couldn't tell you what, I was a bit panicked, then I went to the small crowd as this seemed the safest place to be, on the memorial.
"My partner saw a sword, which I didn't see, as well as a policeman with blood on him, looking like his hand or chest was injured. "The police officer had it in his hand, walking away with it."
