Muslim community raises £3,000 in just one hour in support of Westminster terror attack victims

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox

Get our free View from Westminster email

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

A Muslim-led campaign to raise money to support the families of victims of the Westminster terror attack has seen donations soar above £3,000 an hour after launching.

Muslims United for London saw donations flood in immediately after launching the online donations page.

The funds will be used to support victims and victims’ families of the terror attack in Westminster on Wednesday in which four people died and 40 injured.

Those killed include a police officer on duty outside Parliament, who was named as PC Keith Palmer, 48, and Aysha Frade, a Spanish teacher who worked at DLD College London.

In a statement Muslims United for London said: “The British Muslim community stands with the community during these difficult times and extends their support in raising funds to help with the immediate, short-term needs of the families of Keith Palmer, the other victims and the families of the victims.

“While no amount of money will bring back lives lost or take away from the pain the victims and their families are going through, we hope to lessen their burden in some way.”

Muddassar Ahmed, who launched the page, told ITV last night he had seen the aftermath of the attack from his office window.

“I was in a meeting and suddenly my phone started going off and people started calling me. We looked out of the window and we saw a scene of horror.

“It was so shocking and completely out of the blue,” he said. “It’s something you hear about, but never expect to experience.”

The group said “100 per cent of funds collected through this campaign will go to the victims and the families of the victims most affected by the tragic events that unfolded on March 22, 2017, in our community.”

The campaign comes as Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, has called for increased security outside Mosques.

In a statement he said: “The terrorists aim to divide communities, the far right are doing the work of these terrorist groups by perpetuating the division and hatred, but as British citizens, we will continue to work to bring people together and defeat the ideology of violence.

“Sadly, after such terrorist atrocities innocent Muslims and our Mosques are deliberately targeted as acts of Muslim hatred, we need to remain vigilant and resolute to not allow anyone to divide our communities.

“I want to pay tribute to PC Keith Palmer killed yesterday in the line of service defending our democracy; we pay tribute to him and offer our prayers, condolences and solidarity to his family and friends.”