Scotland Yard, British MP David Amess was killed “for terrorism”
British police have called the murder of Conservative MP David Amess an act of terrorism. According to Scotland Yard, the first investigations have uncovered a “potential matrix linked to Islamist extremism” regarding the killing of Amess, who was stabbed yesterday by a 25-year-old man during an election meeting in the town of Leigh-on-Sea, in ‘Essex. The Metropolitan Police Service said that, as part of the investigation, counter-terrorism agents searched two addresses in the London area.
According to the BBC, the suspect, a British citizen of Somali origin, was not included in the database of “Persons of Interest”, reported as potential terrorist threats. However, according to the Guardian, a person with his own identity had been referred to the Prevent initiative, the official program for individuals considered at risk of radicalization.
The man was arrested after repeatedly stabbing Amess, a 69-year-old member of the Thatcher revolution and a Brexit supporter, had represented Southend West since 1997 and had been a deputy for the nearby Basildon constituency since 1983.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the news, while Labor Party leader Keir Starmer spoke of “a dark and shocking day”. “The whole country will suffer a lot, all the more perhaps because we have already been tragically there,” he added, referring to the murder of Labor MP Jo Cox, who was killed in 2016 during a meeting with voters before the Brexit vote. “Attacking our elected representatives is an attack on democracy itself. There are no excuses, no excuses. It’s cowardly enough, ”said widower Brendan Cox.