this is bbc news. the headlines: several people have been injured in an incident outside london's natural history museum, after a car mounted a pavement and struck pedestrians. in the last few seconds the metropolitan police say the incident is not being treated as a terrorism related incident. i heard a couple of loud bangs. didn't really think much of it. i thought it was a car backfiring. then there were some screams and a large crowd. one person has been detained following the incident, say police. 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. good afternoon and

welcome to bbc news. just a reminder of that line that we are hearing reported on one news agency, that the metropolitan police say the incident at the natural history museum in london this afternoon is not being treated as a terrorism related incident. we have not had that directly from the metropolitan police on their twitter feed or via other means. but it is being reported on one news agency that police are saying it is not a terrorism related incident. we know that several people have been

injured amid reports that a car mounted the pavement outside the museum in south kensington. and we can go to our reporter in the vicinity now, jane witherspoon, who is on cromwell road. what can you see? what can you tell us about what is happening? iamon is happening? i am on the corner of queensgate and cromwell road overlooking the natural history museum, a stretch of road which is about 400 metres long which has been cordoned off by the police. there are three police cars on the corner, another five at the farend. ican on the corner, another five at the far end. i can see three police vans in between. there are several ambulances attending to the scene. i have seen one lady with her leg bandaged in a wheelchair. the ambulance service is attending to her at the moment. there are several police helicopters flying overhead. i was getting off the tube with my

family at south kensington tube station when the incident was taking place. as the doors opened we saw about 40 people running down the escalators in panic. some were cowering in the walkway tunnels next to us. the town i was advising people to leave the station immediately —— the tannoy. me and my family decided to jump immediately —— the tannoy. me and my family decided tojump back immediately —— the tannoy. me and my family decided to jump back on the tube and moved to the next train station down, gloucester road. we thought that was safest. upon leaving the tube station i asked a tefl lady what had happened and she said there had been an incident at the tube station. i have spoken to a member of staff at the natural history museum who told me that somebody had been hit by the vehicle. she couldn't confirm numbers of people who had been hit. all of this happening within a

matter of minutes, what you just described? absolutely. that is from mejumping described? absolutely. that is from me jumping back on the tube train as the doors were closing and getting to the next stop. there is still a lot of confusion at the moment. a lot of confusion at the moment. a lot of confusion at the moment. a lot of milling about. i have seen crowds of people being explored —— escorted out of the station. people are being kept away from the cromwell road entrance to the museum where the majority of the police vehicles are. jane, thank you very much for that. jane witherspoon, who is on the cromwell road. i think we can talk now to ellie mckay. we were speaking to her few minutes ago. can talk now to ellie mckay. we were speaking to herfew minutes ago. her

flat has a view over south kensington. these are the images we are seeing right now. if our viewers did not hear you are few minutes ago, tell us what he saw happening from your window this afternoon? yes. at the moment we have a very heavy police presence. there is the local met police on foot. there are several trucks of armed soldiers. there is a helicopters circling overhead. and a couple of police cars and plainclothes vehicles have gone through as well. sniffer dogs all around. at the moment the areas completely shutdown. all of the pedestrians are being funnelled through. ellie, can you still hear me? yeah.

we thought we had lost you for a second. if you would just continue with your description? there is a very heavy police presence. there are armed guards, foot police, there is an entire roll on the left of the image of about a dozen police just blocking off the road where the incident happened. there is a helicopter which has been circling ever since the incident. a lot of people waiting to carry on their journeys. but yeah, it is pretty calm here now. people are being understanding and respectful. everybody listening to the police directions and doing what they are told, keeping out of the way when ambulances need to come through. there have been a few ambulances and a fire engine that have gone

through. would you just described again —— described again the evacuation of the underground station that your flat overlooks? you told me earlier that that was incredibly calm. yes. i have put a video of the evacuation on my twitter. it was the first thing i started filming. i heard a bang and very quickly, shortly after that, there were crowds of people running from the direction i am just showing you here. there were crowds of people running from the exhibition road side. as they were running to the right, the station itself, the evacuation alarm went off. hundreds and hundreds of people having to evacuate that station. they came out of the door is very calmly and were being directed around to form a crowd in the street. they were

evacuating very quickly. some people we re evacuating very quickly. some people were running, particularly people with children. they were carrying them and running away. it was very calm, it was very ordered. people we re calm, it was very ordered. people were making sure they have enough space to get out. as soon as the majority of people had evacuated, the station staff erected security defences. it was locked down within two minutes. very efficient. within another minute there were sniffer dogs checking that the place was safe. idid dogs checking that the place was safe. i did actually think, maybe it isa safe. i did actually think, maybe it is a drill, because it was so calm and organised and efficient. it went very smoothly. i was reassured. i thought maybe they are doing a drill for a bomb evacuation. that is good to know. than i had a look on the news to see what was happening. and i found out who it was not a drill.

obviously people were responding in the best way they can in the way that people do, supporting each other and helping each other out. although it is obviously very scary andl although it is obviously very scary and i didn't know what was going on at the time, the same time it was quite reassuring that everybody was doing the right thing. thank you for talking to us. mccain south kensington. —— ellie mckay in south kensington. on the line is chloe hayward, who is outside the natural history museum. you were very nearby as this was taking place. describe what you saw? high. yes, i was taking place. describe what you saw? high. yes, iwasjust taking place. describe what you saw? high. yes, i wasjust coming out of the exhibition road exit when it happened. i was about —— it was about three minutes after the

incident happened. people were telling me that the car had lost control. a lot of people had run into the museum suddenlyjust as we we re into the museum suddenlyjust as we were trying to leave. as i walked out, we could see a crowd of people on one side of the pavement. police we re on one side of the pavement. police were moving us on one side of the pavement. police were moving us away on one side of the pavement. police were moving us away from the scene within minutes. i couldn't see exactly how many people were involved on the pavement but i could see there were people lying down. i could also see the car opposite which looked as if it had gone into one of the barriers. within minutes of that, the police were there and we we re of that, the police were there and we were told it was a crime scene and we had to move back. following that, we had about five minutes maximum before people got moved further back. then we had reports of somebody being detained, and somebody being detained, and somebody being detained, and somebody being moved back with me told me more. we are looking at images of the detention, of an

individual being held on the ground bya number of individual being held on the ground by a number of people. as far as you we re by a number of people. as far as you were able to determine, people were being moved out of the museum and other neighbouring museum is pretty quickly rather than being contained inside the museum ‘s? quickly rather than being contained inside the museum 's? people were still being allowed to leave the museum as they were intending to. we we re museum as they were intending to. we were heading towards the exit. we realised there was some commotion. as one of your other guests was saying, it was very calm. people weren't panicking. people were calmly going about. i was ushered in one direction. people from the natural history museum were being allowed to leave at that stage. a second barrier was created. people we re second barrier was created. people were being ushered towards the exits

in the science museum. it is quite remarkable. you said people were very calm. the pictures we saw a second ago of the individual being held on the ground, people walking by, very close by, but at least not appearing to panic and not running from the scene. it sounds like everything was contained very quickly? police were of -- there very quickly. initially there seemed to be confusion about what had actually happened. was it a big incident or was it a car losing control? one of the people i spoke to initially thought it was a car losing control. now exhibition road has been closed. i am standing on thejunction has been closed. i am standing on the junction and the police cordon is right up here. in the last couple of minutes we saw the police dogs

fa ns of minutes we saw the police dogs fans leaving the scene. —— vans. it does look very calm and the police are seemingly... it looks like the situation is under control. thank you very much. i can talk to our home affairs correspondent that one end of exhibition road in south kensington in central london. dominic, do we have any further idea of what the police think this incident was? no. in fact, most of the police are working on the basis they simply don't know. just give you some geography, i am effectively at the south end of the exhibition road some way from chloe. officers here were drafted in from policing a major march that has been going through central london by football supporters, who have been organising

effectively a march against extremism, against terrorism. some of the officers due to be part of that work brought here to form part of the cordon. i'm at the bottom end of the cordon. i'm at the bottom end of exhibition road. it is effectively the restaurant quarter behind the natural history museum and the victoria and albert museum. it is quite a strange sight. it is a big pedestrianised area, normally teeming with people all the way through to the winter. it is absolutely desolate. we have a line of police officers. if i look ten yards ahead of me, i can see tables and chairs scattered as people were evacuated from the area. clearly people were told to get out very quickly. you can see bags, you could see coates, i can see wineglasses have drunk, meals on some of the tables. there are effectively bar

stools all over the place. that is what we heard from a witness earlier who was pushed behind a cordon and said, dominic, that people, police he described as not the ordinary police but officers with some sort of face covering and guns came rushing towards people in restau ra nts a nd rushing towards people in restaurants and bar is telling them to get out of there. that would explain what you were seeing. that is right. they would have been specialist firearms officers. there are various teams of those for various occasions. the quasi—military ones in grey uniforms are a very specific group of office rs are a very specific group of officers trained to carry out counterterror organisations. there are anothergroup counterterror organisations. there are another group where dark blue uniforms. they're the ones we have seen today. they are brought ineffectively to contain a threat after it been identified. there are lots of those officers around. we had a group of those parcels while

we we re had a group of those parcels while we were trying to get to the scene. a minute ago one of the restaurant owners around here managed to secure permission from the police to get back into her property. she was concerned that the gas may still be on, things like that. she needed to secure on, things like that. she needed to secure the location. she was exported in by an officer. lots of staff who would have been working late into the night simply don't know if they have any business or whether they will have to go home. it isa whether they will have to go home. it is a strange atmosphere is normally a very busy part of london. one womanl normally a very busy part of london. one woman i spoke to a couple of minutes ago, i think is fair to say she was having a panic attack. she livesjust she was having a panic attack. she lives just across the way from the museum. she suddenly came back from shopping and realised she couldn't get home. because of the rumours which have been spreading, which i will stress are not confirmed, that this was a terror incident, she is having a terrible time of it. she was really, concerned. an ambulance crew was trying to calm are down

because she didn't know what to make of it. most of the people, to be frank, have been very calm. i spoke to one man who had witnessed the aftermath of the man being held on the ground. he had been here with his wife and son for a usual family day out at the museums, very calm, keeping their son away from this, so he doesn't get scared by it. they decided they were going to head home and get out of the way. it is a very, very strange atmosphere. in some respects it is one that london is getting used to, irrespective of what it may actually turn out to be at the end of the day. initially the police said, the metropolitan police said they had arrested a man. they clarify that and said they had detained a man. not formally arrested him. one news agency is reporting that this is being treated as, is not being treated as terrorism related, but we have not seen terrorism related, but we have not seen that on the metropolitan police

twitter feed or elsewhere. what seen that on the metropolitan police twitterfeed or elsewhere. what do you make of these pieces of information? i think what we make of this is that scotland yard is trying to be as careful as possible. one of their primary objectives throughout this year, starting from the westminster bridge incident on words, is to try to contain and control the environment and the public perception of what is going on, so there isn't a sense of panic. in essence what they tried to do is limit what they say. breaking that down, the chap detained has not been arrested. that is not uncommon where you have an incident where there is a suspicion of violence, or somebody has been injured, so they have a suspect in custody. if that suspect is, for instance, injured and has to be taken to hospital, or perhaps there is a mental—health element to there is a mental—health element to the incident that is being investigated, it may not necessarily lead to the rest of the individual

straightaway. what matters is that they have the incident contained and they have the incident contained and they have the incident contained and they have time to decide whether or not they will formally arrest. in terms of whether it is a counterterrorism operation or not, the best thing to say about that is scotland yard are not taking any chances. if you look at the types of office rs chances. if you look at the types of officers out here, firearms officers, a lot of detectives with a lot of experience dealing with these incidents, they are dealing with it on the basis it could be anything. one of the things they will be working on is it could be terrorism. they will not say that publicly until they have a better idea of what is going on, simply because they don't want to cause public panic. the last thing they want is the public to assume that london has been attacked again when that may not necessarily be the case. they don't know until they clarify what has happened, and whether or not this suspect who was involved, was involved in an active violence and

had an ideological motive. dominic aslanni at one end of exhibition road. richard lister is on the scene at south kensington. describe what you are in relation to this incident and what you can tell us? i am diagonally opposite from where you heard dominic speaking from. the natural history museum is just there. this strange of entry roadway is the cromwell road. at the far end of it, several hundred metres down, there is a cluster of emergency service vehicles, lots of police vans you can maybe see in the background, the lights twinkling away. we have a quite a bit of movement up and down this road. we have had several ambulances, grant 90, have had several ambulances, grant go, police cars coming and going. we have had unmarked police cars with

flashing lights but no other visible signs they are police vehicles, coming and going. this section of the cromwell road is closed. the section that way is in fact open. there are cars going up and down it. if you look to my right, you can see thatis if you look to my right, you can see that is queensgate. there are a lot of pedestrians, traffic going down there as well. the whole area around there as well. the whole area around the natural history museum has not been closed off. certain streets have. the natural history museum is there. further down is the victorian —— the victoria and albert museum. i understand that remains open but some of the entrances have been closed off. in addition, the nearest tube station, south kensington, was closed. the last time i checked it was still closed. that was keeping some people away. there are still thousands of people in this area on a saturday. this museum district of london is extremely busy and people are still flowing across this road.

the police stopping anybody from stopping and taking pictures as much as they can. they are trying to keep people moving. this is a very busy area. it remains busy. police are not giving any information here about what exactly has happened. they say they don't know any more than we do at this stage. clearly they are anxious to ensure that they don't give an impression that they no more than they do. everybody is waiting for something definitive from the metropolitan police which will say clearly whether a mac is not they regard this as just an u nfortu nate not they regard this as just an unfortunate incident or something more sinister. we have not heard that definitive statement as yet. that is something we are still waiting for. the police opened stopping residents who were either coming out of these properties, they have been coming up to this police tape and asking if they can keep going. police have said no, they need to go back into their houses. other houses —— other people say

they have been sent back as well. but the police are trying to do is avoid too much movement up and down this street, trying to minimise it as much as they can. for the moment, we, like everybody else, are trying to establish exactly what the nature of this incident is. the police not giving anything away. richard, thank you. as richard was saying, the police not ruling anything out at the moment. they haven't confirmed exactly the nature of this incident, what they believe it to be, what they understand that to be. they have exercised complete caution in terms of their response to this incident, but there has been no official confirmation, despite some reports of whether this incident is terrorist related or merely an unfortunate accident. the police emphasising how important it is to be accurate before they

release any further information. they have contained the scene and therefore are taking the time necessary to be accurate and to establish the facts of this incident. i can talk now to an eyewitness who was at a nearby restau ra nt eyewitness who was at a nearby restaurant when the incident happened. thank you forjoining us. what did you see and hear? well, about 20 past two we were still in the restaurant eating. we saw a lot of people running past the restau ra nt. of people running past the restaurant. i guess that was probably around the moment the incident actually took place. i didn't see the incident myself. we finished off her meal, paid and went out. i walked up. finished off her meal, paid and went out. iwalked up. i have finished off her meal, paid and went out. i walked up. i have actually put some of the footage on your programme so you can see what my vantage point was. there were a couple of guys who were holding down

a gentleman who was, i don't know, presumably the driver? they were waiting five to ten minutes for the police to arrive to officially detain him, or put handcuffs on him. you should see that in the video. i would say there was relative calm. obviously macro there were a lot of people around curious to see what was going on. from a distance, if you don't see the guy on the ground, it looks like a car accident. people would try to figure out what it was. i guess that is still the case now. absolutely. you say, jason, that the first indication you have that anything was wrong, that something was going on, was people running past the restaurant where you were. was there panic, or were people

running ina was there panic, or were people running in a fairly orderly fashion? well, the people that we saw were just... i mean, iwouldn't say well, the people that we saw were just... i mean, i wouldn't say it was extreme panic as such. people we re was extreme panic as such. people were running. yeah, it wasjust unusual. we're there very often and we thought, what is going on? where people running to? some people were clearly a little bit shocked. but it was so quick. i only caught a glimpse of them really. i can't say much more than that. that was about 20 past two. 0k, jason, thank you very much taking the time to talk us. very much taking the time to talk us. an eyewitness in a restaurant nearby when the incident happened. joining me again now isjim kelly. i know you will have been talking to

contacts since you were last here beside me in the studio. what more can you say? we are still waiting to hear from the metropolitan police whether this is being treated as a terrorist incident or whether it is just a very unfortunate road traffic accident in a very busy part of london on a saturday afternoon. we are still waiting for that statement. they say they can't put anything out until they are absolutely certain. we are getting conflicting reports in that a man was originally arrested, we were told. then we were told he had been detained. that would suggest it wasn't anything sinister. wear them being told of the prime minister is been kept informed, which you would assume would happen anyway. that raises questions about the whole kind of whitehall involvement. it is very difficult. i think why people are so very difficult. i think why people are so alarmed, and as we have heard, many witnesses this afternoon talking to you about the level of police activity when something like

this happens. they have seen all these police pile into the area. we have got large sections of road cordoned off. people become concerned and think the worst. this is how the police will respond if there is any suggestion at all this could be anything more than a road traffic accident. they are trying to go in these sort of situations. that raises a degree of concern among the public. an abundance of caution is basically what we're looking at. the police want to react in this way given the national security alert, to ensure they can keep people out of harm's way should they need to? that is right. and of course because we have seen terrorists use this tactic in this country in recent months, we saw the westminster attack, the london bridge attack we re attack, the london bridge attack were people mounted the pavement and people have been killed, this is what people immediately think of. of course, it could be a road traffic accident. we are still waiting. the

problem is that we are always trying to get information very quickly. this only happened a couple of hours ago and we are waiting to hear. we will hopefully know something in the next couple of hours. just a line coming in from the metropolitan police. according to the reuters news agency, i should say, the metropolitan police keeping an open mind as to whether the museum incident is terrorism related. this contradicts what the reuters news agency was reporting earlier. i should again say it was on this agency alone. they were saying earlier that police were saying earlier that police were saying it wasn't terrorism related. now they —— now this has been updated. the reuters news agency saying the metropolitan police are keeping an open mind. that is an indication of the sort of this situation we're in. reuters reporting one thing and changing within half an hour and saying the police are keeping an open mind. that is what we are being told. they

are still trying to establish what went on, who this man is. they will be gathering statements. it is a very fluid situation. and they will want to do this as quickly as possible, but they can ta ke quickly as possible, but they can take the time to be sure of the fa cts , take the time to be sure of the facts, can't they, because they have got the situation contained? that's right. the big thing here is public reassurance. if it isn't terrorist related they need to be able to go out to the say, look, this was an u nfortu nate out to the say, look, this was an unfortunate accident and a number of people have been injured and dreadful afternoon for them and theirfamilies dreadful afternoon for them and their families and people close to them. so they need to be able to go out and give that public reassurance or if it is something else, before they say anything, they have to be 100% certain of their facts and we are waiting in this