Minute’s silence to be held on one-year anniversary of Finsbury Park attack

Emergency services were called to the junction of Seven Sisters Road and Whadcoat Street, London after Darren Osborne rammed into Muslim worshippers leaving two mosques (Yui Mok/PA) Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

Britain’s values will not be broken by “vile extremism”, Theresa May has said ahead of a memorial one year on from the Finsbury Park terror attack.

A minute’s silence will be held to commemorate the death of father-of-six Makram Ali, and for the dozen others who were injured on June 19 last year.

Relatives of Mr Ali have been invited to gather alongside others affected by Darren Osborne’s murderous rampage, when he ploughed a hire van onto a crowded pavement intending to kill as many Muslims as possible.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan are expected to attend the event at Islington Town Hall on Tuesday, where a silence will be held at 9.30am.

Osborne named Mr Khan during his nine-day trial at Woolwich Crown Court as someone, alongside Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, he had wanted to kill.

Islington councillors, local faith and community leaders, and emergency services workers who helped victims in the aftermath of the attack are set to attend Tuesday’s commemorative event.

Ahead of the event the Prime Minister said: “Last year’s cowardly attack which targeted innocent worshippers leaving Finsbury Park mosque is an attack on all of us.

“As with all acts of terrorism the intention was to divide us but we will not let this happen.

“We are a country of many faiths and freedom of worship and respect for those of different faiths is fundamental to this country’s values and these values will never be broken by vile extremism.”

Mrs May commended the “bravery and spirit of the community that apprehended the attacker”.

She added: “As we remember the victims of this attack, Makram Ali who tragically lost his life, we should take strength that it is London’s diversity and multitude of communities that makes it one of the world’s great cities.”

At a gathering earlier in June Mr Ali’s daughter Ruzina Akhtar spoke of her family’s gratitude for the support they had received from the community since her father’s death.

Ms Akhtar addressed those gathered at a street Iftar on what was the one-year anniversary of the incident according to the lunar calendar observed in the Islamic faith.

She said: “We’re very happy to be part of this community and to be in this country with such a loving, diverse community around us.

“And we would just like to thank everyone for their support and the love that they’ve shown and hope they continue to do so.”

The phrase #LondonUnited, which has been used in the wake of other terror attacks last year, was due to be displayed on the Muslim Welfare House on Monday evening and into the early hours of Tuesday, around the time Osborne committed his crime.

The jobless loner, who had been radicalised by far-right material, is serving a jail sentence of at least 43 years, after being found guilty in February of murder and attempted murder.