this is bbc news. the headlines: calls for unity in spain as a huge rally takes place in madrid following last weekend's disputed referendum for catalan independence. concerns for one of northern ireland's biggest employers after us authorities impose more heavy tariffs on bombardier planes. senior conservatives rally around the pm as borisjohnson tells mps to get behind theresa may and turn the fire onjeremy corbyn. also in the next hour, a treat in store for stargazers as a meet your sherrock could show off dozens of shooting stars in the skies above the uk overnight. —— meatier shower. and click explorers the ever evolving world of virtual reality.

we are beginning this hour with reports of an incident outside the natural history museum in london. it's believed a number of people have been injured and a man has been arrested. we are told police and emergency services are on the scene and roads in the area surrounding the museum in south kensington have been closed. we just have had a brief statement from the metropolitan police saying that they are responding to what they are describing as a collision in exhibition road in south kensington. that is the road on which the natural history museum is situated, along with the science museum and the victoria and albert museum. the police say they are still gathering information. what they know so far is that it involved a car and that a few people have been injured. it took place at 20 past two. the met

police will be releasing further information in due course. thatjust coming in from the metropolitan police. a man arrested at the scene, they say. joining me on the line is they say. joining me on the line is the bbc‘s chloe heyworth, who is outside the natural history museum. tell us what you know and what you have seen happening? tell us what you know and what you have seen happening ?|j tell us what you know and what you have seen happening? i walked out the exhibition road exit. i could see a car that was driving across the road. it seemed like it was going into one of the boulders on the side of the road. i could see people on the pavement at the time. i tried to talk to police but are not getting any information. all i have been told is that there are few minor injuries. there is a double chord in and they are calling it a

crime scene. explained for everybody where the car was? as you come out of the exhibition road exit you can see the car may be 100 metres, maybe less tha n see the car may be 100 metres, maybe less than that, on the left and side of the road. since then we have had lots of police coming onto the scene. lots of police coming onto the scene. i can see lots of police coming onto the scene. i can see an lots of police coming onto the scene. i can see an ambulance in front of me behind the second gordon. it is not clear how bad the injuries are. police say they have arrested somebody. did you see that the rest take place? i did not, no. there are about six or seven police ca rs there are about six or seven police cars around. there are now armed

police standing in front of the science museum exit and in front of the imperial university entrance as well. one -- from where you are, what can you tell us about the cord and and how far it extends? the first one is right by the scene. maybe ten metres from where the car is. the second one is a good 80 metres away. presumably there are still lots people in the natural history museum ? still lots people in the natural history museum? the security at the museum say they are not evacuating the museum at this stage. i assume they are not allowing any more people in. people are still leaving gradually and being immediately moved behind the second barrier. people are being allowed to exit? they are. that is between the two

barriers. —— they are not evacuating the science museum at this stage. amelie police vehicles are there?” can see about six, i would say. there are two police behind me at the moment. they are not allowing more people onto the road. that is where i am being held at the moment. there is a police car stopping more people from coming into the area. presumably, as this was unfolding, the area was very busy? you have three world—class museums beside one another on a saturday afternoon, very busy? yes, there are a a lot of people around. lotsa people saying

they saw a vehicle lose control and a vehicle stopped on the side of the road at a strange angle, suggesting it had crashed. not sure whether it crashed on purpose or is not. everybody was moved very quickly back. there were a lot of police anyway. people were moved within a few minutes of the incident happening and the barriers were put up. is the car on the road or the pavement, or straddling the two?” have been pushed further back. one of the wheels looks like it is encroaching slightly onto the pavement. it sounds like a very quick response from the emergency services? i would say, quick response from the emergency services? iwould say, definitely. helicopters were both within minutes. there are armed police between the barriers stopping people from getting into the area. a very

quick response. people milling around trying to see what is going on, and people in the building. they have allowed people in to collect their bicycles. chloe, thank you very much for the moment. chloe heyworth at the natural history museum. just to recap what the police are saying. the statement from metropolitan police. they say they were called at around 20 past two to reports of a collision in exhibition road in south kensington, where the natural history museum is. it is believed a number of pedestrians have been injured. 0ther emergency services including the london ambulance service, on the scene. london ambulance service, on the scene. a man has been arrested at the scene. and the police say enquiries are on to establish the circumstances and motive of this

incident. they are asking people with information to call them. that is what we are hearing from the metropolitan police at the moment. we will keep a close eye on the situation and return as soon as we have more information. huge rallies are taking place across spain, as tensions continue over catalonia's demand for independence. in madrid, tens of thousands of people are showing their support for spanish unity. across the country campaigners calling for dialogue between madrid and barcelona have gathered outside town halls, as gavin lee reports. madrid, this morning. tens of thousands of people, responding to the spanish government's call to take to the streets and show support to try to keep their country together. three days from an expected announcement by the catalan government to separate the region. this is barcelona. protest of a

different kind. dressed in white, thousands who call themselves the silent majority, feeling caught in the middle and scared of what comes next. the movement was born by social media, under the hashtag, let's talk. iam here, personally, as i feel we need a dialogue. politicians have not been doing theirjob really well. 0ur sole objective is that people and above all, politicians talk to each other. we are seen for too long this confrontation between both sides, and we think that now the people must show that we want dialogue. the same on the streets of alicante too, and elsewhere the movement shows a wider sense of the frustration. but while there is no sign of dialogue between the spanish and the catalan governments. there are signs those on both sides would be willing to soften their position. gavin gave us this update earlier.

it has quietened down a little bit. but for the past couple of hours it has been full of people, thousands of people in white saying there must bea of people in white saying there must be a need to talk. notjust here but in seville, madrid and alicante. massive crowds turning up. whilst there is a call for dialogue, what we are hearing from the catalan government at the moment and carles puigdemont is that there will be a delay on tuesday before a speech to parliament. my understanding is there will be a 48—hour period after that were he describes how unilateral independence will work. that takes us to thursday. according to some of those inside the catalan government, their preferences mediation and possibly having an official referendum. not going through it like this but seeing of the spanish government will talk. at the spanish government will talk. at the moment there is no sign of that. he marched his followers to the top

of the hill. the big question is what he will do next, whether there will be any sign of goodwill, any sign of give and take from the government of mariano rajoy. two things to bear in mind. 0ne government of mariano rajoy. two things to bear in mind. one is the spanish government has kept a pretty consistent and hard line when it comes to any type of negotiation, saying this is against the constitution, that they are agitators and separatist parties. as soon as agitators and separatist parties. as soon as you agitators and separatist parties. as soon as you let the swiss inn, who offered to mediate yesterday, you give both parties room for manoeuvre. that puts the spanish government in a weaker position. i am told behind closed doors there may be some kind of private mediation that they may be looking at. nothing confirmed by the spanish comment. briefly, we are hearing voices from the past in catalonia. the old president saint are newspapers yesterday that he believes there are ministers who believes there are ministers who believe it isn't the moment for

independence, they need to work out how they do it with fiscal powers, policing powers, judicial powers, and that could take time. that may be why we are having a slight delay until next week. nothing clear at the moment. gavin lee. we can speak to a journalist who has been following developments throughout the day in barcelona. hello to you. it is a little quieter now where you are, compared to earlier. what is the mood like? do you sense that people, after the referendum, that vote last week, that people are perhaps a little bit nervous at how things have developed in the days since then? yes, definitely. people are very nervous, very yes, definitely. people are very nervous, very worried and afraid of what is going to happen next week, on tuesday. i spoke to a woman and she told me, we are really afraid because we have no clue what is going to happen. these politicians just want their political agenda, it doesn't have anything to do with the

people's well. and also, we are the silent majority. and not the ones who are for independence. and not particularly against it. they were all wearing white shirts and saying how they were neutral. they want dialogue between mariano rajoy and ca rles dialogue between mariano rajoy and carles puigdemont. she also said that next week, on tuesday, if ca rles that next week, on tuesday, if carles puigdemont would declare independence, how would the spanish comment react? with a arrest the spanish —— catalan government? —— will they arrest. no she said to me they fear there will be a radicalisation of the minority of the supporters of the independence movement, which until now has been very peaceful. to what extent do you think the spanish government in madrid, the catalan leader there, we'll listen to these protests calling for dialogue? so far the

spanish government has been on bending. as we know, the catalan leader has spoken about possibly declaring unilateral independence. yes. until now it's really difficult to foresee. nobody knows. yesterday i spoke to a political scientist. he could imagine violence on the street. if unilateral independence is declared, there is a possibility the situation will even escalate more. but until now bat yesterday there were some signals coming from a minister of the catalan government. he said we should progress towards, he didn't say dialogue, but the people here were thinking maybe it is a step forward. it could also be just words dropping because they also say they don't believe any more what politicians

say, because they offered dialogue before. it was never accepted by the spanish government. and vice versa. people are very disappointed and have no clue what has gone to happen. and also, the political scientist yesterday also said nobody knows what will happen. we will see. a pretty unusual situation, even for a political scientist to consider. thank you very much. let me remind you of our breaking news. police are responding to an incident outside of the natural history museum in south kensington in london. we don't know yet what the nature of this incident is. that is reflected in a statement from the metropolitan police. they say their enquiries are going on to establish the circumstances and the motive. it is believed a number of pedestrians have been injured in

some sort of incident involving a car. the london ambulance service on the scene. 0ur reporter saw at least one person being taken into an ambulance to be brought to hospital. and a man has been arrested at the scene. and a man has been arrested at the scene. no further details on that as yet. we are monitoring this incident in south kensington. police cordoned off the area. people are being allowed to move from the natural history museum and other famous museums on exhibition road. the victoria and albert museum, the science museum, but people are being allowed to move away from the area very quickly to the other side of the police barrier. police responding to this incident. police

say a few people have been injured. we don't have a precise number as yet. they say they received their first calls at just after 20 yet. they say they received their first calls atjust after 20 minutes past two. calls to reports of a collision in exhibition road. 0ur rockport, who happened to be in the area when this on folded, said she could see a vehicle with perhaps one wheel on the pavement. that was as much as she could see from her vantage point. she tried to talk to police but they were involved with establishing the barrier. not much detailfrom the establishing the barrier. not much detail from the police yet about what exactly this incident is the nature of the injuries, although our reporter thought the person she saw being taken away from the ambulance

didn't appear from a distance to be seriously hurt but we have no confirmation on the precise nature of those injuries as yet. of course the area was hugely busy. a saturday afternoon. three hugely popular museums. as you afternoon. three hugely popular museums. as you can afternoon. three hugely popular museums. as you can imagine, the area very crowded. joining me on the line is damien hackett, who was behind the police barrier. 0r line is damien hackett, who was behind the police barrier. or you visiting one of the museums? yes, we we re visiting one of the museums? yes, we were going to the natural history museum. what can you see? we have been moved away from the area. " re, to be honest. when we had arrived there, the police were responding to there, the police were responding to the incident. they were milling around trying to get people away. they established a barrier immediately. we were standing for a moment trying to figure out what we did. we didn't know what was going

on. the police came more or less charging towards the crowd and everybody was instructed to get out of there now. we'll then. there were people —— table knocked over. people we re people —— table knocked over. people were screaming. we still didn't know what was going on. so we just left. from your description, it is fair to say that there was a degree of urgency in how police were moving people away from the area, a huge degree of concern? absolutely. they we re degree of concern? absolutely. they were adamant that everybody was gone from the area immediately. i heard one policeman shout, ron and don't stop running. there were pretty keen that we got out of there. you haven't seen first—hand the vehicle which our reporter described as having perhaps one wheel on the

pavement? no. we did see a vehicle but we didn't identify it. it wasn't moving. as the police were responding we were turning up at the same time. just as i speak to you, we are receiving a very brief statement from the natural history museum saying there has been a serious incident outside and that they are working with the police. that is the extent of the statement. the natural history museum saying there has been a serious incident outside, there are working with the police. tell us more about the response of people as the police came towards them and told them to get out of the area? there was quite a relaxed atmosphere at the start. it was most like people were trying to queue up to have a look. there was no sense of emergency. then it

was no sense of emergency. then it was as if a button was switched and the other police, not the normal police you see around the city, but the guys with the facemasks and the guns, they started charging towards the crowd and basically started shouting at them to get out of their urgency, get out of there now. keep running. infairness, nobody urgency, get out of there now. keep running. in fairness, nobody was going to ignore them. they were adamant that we had to be out of there. it had obviously escalated at that stage. maybe they were not aware of the level of containment they had to engage in. perhaps they didn't didn't know how many people we re didn't didn't know how many people were involved in the act itself. they were taking any precaution possible. at that point the atmosphere changed from being kind of calm and just observing two people fleeing for what seemed like their lives. the panic seems to have

rippled across the crowd. it was busy. people were having to struggle to get out of there. it was very busy. tables were being knocked over in restaurants. we just busy. tables were being knocked over in restaurants. wejust kept busy. tables were being knocked over in restaurants. we just kept moving out of the way. we try to gauge which direction to go in. a little bit exciting, to say the least. but now where you are, pretty calm? it's funny, because as soon as you get towards the high street kensington area it's busy as usual. people are obviously not aware that less than a quarter of a mile away there is serious panic. it is pretty bizarre. people are wandering down the street. it is business as usual. ok. damien, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us. take care. damien hackett, who was in the

vicinity of the natural history museum when this incident was taking place. to briefly remind you of this line we have from the natural history museum, saying there has been a serious incident outside. they say they are working with police. with me now in the studio is our correspondent, june kelly. it is clear first of all from that police statement that they are urgently trying to establish the circumstances and the motive behind this incident. we don't know exactly what it is yet? no. exactly. at the moment it could be a road traffic accident. and we should stress that. people's thoughts immediately turn to something more sinister. it is —— is ita to something more sinister. it is —— is it a terrorist attack? we are making a lot of calls to establish whether there is a terrorist element. we are not getting any

information. we are at the early stage with this. why people would make this link is that this is a tactic that has been used in previous attacks. we saw id in westminster, in the london bridge attacks, when a car goes on the pavement and people are injured. we have seen fatalities in previous attacks. it is early days. we are trying to establish... the authorities will be trying to establish as well. it is only happened in the last hour. what we have to do is what everybody else is doing, considering the possibility but realising that it may be sinister it may not be. as we try to establish more facts. the way that the police were behaving as described by our witness just a second ago, he talked about not the ordinary police, in his words, the quys ordinary police, in his words, the guys with masks and big guns running towards the crowd telling them to move, that is how they would behave a nyway move, that is how they would behave anyway as a matter of precaution, i

presume? that's right. london, like the rest of the uk, is on alert to a terror attack. although the terror attack level is at number two, it is now one down from the top. attack level is at number two, it is now one down from the topm attack level is at number two, it is now one down from the top. if i can just interrupt you. we have received some clarification from the metropolitan police. they say they have detained someone but not formally arrested them. initially they were saying a man had been arrested at the scene. now they say they have detained him, not formally arrested him. the man is with officers but hasn't been arrested. that is interesting. 0ne officers but hasn't been arrested. that is interesting. one would assume, and we are assuming here, which is not something we are supposed to do but sometimes we have to do in these circumstances, that if he has not been arrested that suggests something less sinister. but there again, we are still at the early stages. your point about the police response, that would be the

response in a situation like this. forces are on alert around the country if an incident like this should occur. they have to go in with that thought in mind, is this a very serious incident? they are primed and ready to go. we saw this last summer when there was an attack in central london when a young man started running amok with a knife. the place was full of police in a short period of time. as it turned out that young man had mental health problems. but it shows you the level of response you get with this sort of response you get with this sort of incident. i know a lot of people outside london will be familiar with this area. it is the sort of place you bring your children too. a real family area. people will know this pa rt family area. people will know this part of london, even if you don't live here. on a saturday afternoon, it would be absolutely rammed with people. but no, i think it is interesting, the development from the metropolitan police. we will hopefully get more information in

the next hour. the speed of the response we have heard about and we have seen... it's interesting looking at this area, and we have to be very careful and cautious about attributing any sort of motive to this, wejust attributing any sort of motive to this, we just simply don't know, but you can see why people are worried that it may be something similar —— sinister because of the nature of the area as a hotspot for tourists, domestic and international? yes. and isn't that a sign of the situation we are now in that when something like this happens in central london, and it would be the same in any other part of the country, people think, are we under a terror attack? is this something more than a car accident? we are on a heightened state of alert. people usually think, is this something more sinister thanjust your think, is this something more sinister than just your average attack or car crash, i should say?

we are at the very early stages. it is an interesting development from the metropolitan police. we tried to get more information. as far as we know at the moment, we are being told people are being injured. the injuries do not seem to be on a mass scale. that is one very good, that is very good news in all of this. we don't seem to have mass casualties at the moment. this is what we are hearing. me recap. -- let me recap. an incident outside the natural history museum in south kensington. police called at about 20 past two to reports of what they called a collision in exhibition road. they say that a number of pedestrians have been injured. they have set up a police cordon. they initially said a police cordon. they initially said a man had been arrested. in the last

few moments they have clarified that and say they have detained a man at the scene but have not formally arrested him. we don't know the number of injuries or the extent of the injuries at this stage. but those are the details that we have at the moment. a little earlier i spoke to the bbc reporter outside the natural history museum when this was happening. literally i walked out of the exhibition road exit of the museum. just as the incident had happened. i could see a car that was driving across the road looking like it was going into one of the boulders on the site of the road. i could see a crowd of people around what was clearly one or two people on the pavement. i have tried to talk to the police and i am not getting much information. all i am being told is that there have been a few minor injuries. there is a double police

cordon and they are calling it a police —— crime scene. 0rwas or was the card that you have seen? as you came out of the exhibition road entrance of the natural history museum... you could see the car may be 100 metres or less on the left—hand side of the road. since then we have had lots of police coming into the scene and there is an ambulance behind the second cordon, definitely somebody being put into the ambulance. it is not clear how bad the injuries are, it does not look that bad from here. police say they have arrested someone, police say they have arrested someone, did you see that taking place? i did not. there are about six or seven police