The events of the last 24 hours have been truly horrific. None of us will ever fully know what made someone drive their car into pedestrians, stab people without a second thought and create nationwide fear. Whatever their motives, I imagine their aim was to divide us as citizens, make us turn against one another and challenge our democracy. This vicious ideology must not be allowed to breed, with effective deterrents against such ambitions. Most importantly, this evil should never be given into.
Finding out about the attack is something I'll never forget. I had arrived home later than usual, because of after school revision sessions. By then, the attack had occurred 2 hours earlier. The first news bulletin I saw was MPs locked in the Palace of Westminster, with all business suspended. At first I thought there had been an accident, or rowdy disruptions that had bought parliamentary issues to a halt. Never did I imagine that all of Central Westminster was in danger, with thousands of people affected. From then, I was glued to the news for the entire evening. Both the BBC and Sky News were excellent at informing viewers about the severity of the situation and further developments. For the whole evening, presenters were stood live in Westminster, only metres away from where the awful events took place. Rightly, other news stories weren't covered, so that the public could focus on central London. As for devolved administrations, I feel both the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly were right to suspend their proceedings as a sign of respect. A number of deaths, however small, is always too many in a terror attack. Families will have lost a mother, father, daughter, son, niece, nephew, friend. It is simply unimaginable, on what began as a normal Wednesday. My deepest thoughts are with the families and friends of the murdered victims, going through endless grief. My sympathies are with all the MPs, staff and people in London affected, particularly the groups of schoolchildren visiting London. They travelled to learn about democracy, they left having been part of a truly frightening experience. It appears the alleged terrorist died, having been shot by the police. While I do not condone what he did whatsoever, and utterly condemn it, I wish he had been disarmed and not killed, in order to face a fair trial. This way, there may have been a greater chance of learning the terrorist's motives and whether he was part of a larger organisation, or just a lone wolf. A trial would ensure a fair punishment, decided by a jury, rather than instant death. This is where I worry for the future. I worry, not that we will give into terrorism, but that levels of surveillance and security become so astronomical that personal liberty is destroyed. While I absolutely believe in keeping people safe, the state having the power to read all of my emails and text messages is frightening. In public, while I believe in a greater police presence, an armed police force does scare me. I can imagine the police thinking someone was a threat and then shooting them. If that person turned out to be innocent, nothing can be done. Wednesday 22nd March 2017 will go down in Britain's history as a day of two halves. The first half being the awful attack hurting and disrupting the lives of so many. The second half being communities coming together, uniting against this evil cause and vowing to never let terrorism win.
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