A man has been arrested after reports of a person carrying knives outside the Houses of Parliament.
Police cars were seen parked in front of Carriage Gates, one of the most prominent entrances to the Palace of Westminster, after the incident on Tuesday afternoon. A man wearing a red hooded top could be seen handcuffed and surrounded by police. The area was cordoned off during the incident and the entrance closed.
The Metropolitan police said officers were called at 2.01pm to reports of a man in possession of knives outside parliament. “Officers attended and a 34-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon in a public place. He will be taken to a police station. No injuries have been reported,” the force said.
A UK parliament spokesperson said: “We are aware of an incident outside Carriage Gates. Parliamentary security and the Metropolitan police are present and managing the situation.”
An initial assessment by police suggested there was no evidence the incident was terrorism related, and it was not being treated as such. They are investigating why knives may possibly have been carried so close to an important site such as parliament.
Security around the parliamentary estate is some of the most stringent in Britain. There has been an escalation in recent years to the assessed threat to lawmakers and in 2017 parliament was the scene of a terrorist attack, during which a police officer guarding one of its gates, PC Keith Palmer, was stabbed to death.
More details soon …