London facing significant 'convergence of threats' police chief warns MPs
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London is facing the biggest convergence of threats it has seen for a 'very long time', a senior Met Police officer has warned.
Assistant Commissioner Matt Jukes said London was faced the increased danger of an attack by an extremist "energised" by fighting between Israel and Hamas.
"This is an exceptional period where we have a sense of counter-terrorism risk which is immediate," he told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee.
The fallout from events more than 2,000 miles away has seen large pro-Palestine protests on the streets of London with a surge in reports of hate crime.
The number of calls to the police anti-terrorist hotline has also doubled. Ten days ago police in Paris used tasers to subdue a suspected terrorist after a knife attack left one tourist dead and two others injured. The Met fears a similar attack here involving someone radicalised by what they've seen online.
The Met has opened investigations in to more than 800 hate crimes since October 7th. and cancelled 5,500 police officers' rest days because of the protests.
Matt Jukes who is also Head of UK Counter Terror Policing added: "The threat is going to manifest at two speeds.
"We have got the immediate of people being energised or galvanised by the amount of hateful material that is being circulated.
"There is a real risk as we saw in Paris recently of an individual being energised by these events."
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