Another day, another horror.
This is the remarkable testimony of a very brave eyewitness called Gerard, interviewed on the BBC Channel soon after the attack:
Eyewitness: So I walk up to London Bridge, go past the NatWest Bank, come up near the train bridge. Next minute I saw a geezer on the floor going "I've been stabbed. I've been stabbed." So I looked at him. I saw blood all down him. His mate come past, "Someone's stabbed my mate. Someone's stabbed my mate". The next minute I saw these three Muslim guys run up with knives. They ran up and started stabbing this girl, three of them. I was defenceless. I couldn't do nothing, mate. They attacked her, and then they stabbed another guy I think - if I remember rightly. I was a bit shocked. Then started to run up the road. I started going, "Everybody run! They're terrorists, terrorists. Run, run! They are stabbing everyone". So I followed them, went down towards the NatWest Bank, towards Borough Market. And then we got round there, they started running up to the tavern. They stabbed the bouncer. They were stabbing. They were running in all the pubs, all the bars, I can remember all of them. They ran in. They were stabbing everyone. I was going to people, "Run, run, run!". I started throwing bottles at them, pint glasses, stools, chairs. I tried to help as many people as I could but at the end of the day I was defenceless, mate. If I had fell over then they probably would have killed me.
Reporter: When you say they were stabbing everyone, what did you actually see them do?
Eyewitness: They were running up going, "This is for Allah!" When I first see them, "This is for Allah!", and they run up and they stabbed this girl I don't know how many times, maybe ten times or 15 times. She was going, "Help me, help me!" and I could not do nothing. I tried to help her. I threw something. There was a bike on the floor. I try to pick up the chair but it was locked to it to throw it ah them, just to get them away from her. I could not do nothing. And when you look at the CCTV you will see me on the CCTV at Borough Market chasing them and throwing bottles at them and glasses. It's a silly thing to do but I was just trying to save people's lives.
Reporter: Did they actually try and attack you?
Eyewitness: Yeah, they tried to stab me when I threw the chair at them.
Reporter: Do you have injuries?
Eyewitness: No. I threw something at them, like a stool, a chair, and as I threw it at them and hit maybe one, maybe two of them on the head, hit them like that on the back, and then they run towards me to try to stab me so I run away because if I slipped over I would be dead now. I would be dead. I would have been killed there and then.
One immediate crumb of comfort: The police arrived and shot dead all three of the killers within eight minutes. (Thank goodness for a strong, government-approved 'shoot-to-kill' policy).
