Muslim women linked hands on Westminster Bridge on Sunday to honor the victims of last week’s terror attack in London.
On March 22, Khalid Masood drove into pedestrians on the busy Westminster Bridge, police said. He then stabbed a police officer while trying to storm the city’s Parliament building. Masood left three people dead and about 40 others injured in his wake. A fourth victim died the next day.
On Sunday, nearly 100 women, many of whom were Muslim and wearing blue to represent peace, held a silent, 5-minute vigil in the very spot in which the violence occurred. As Big Ben struck 4 p.m., the women linked hands to express solidarity and bowed their heads to show respect to those who were lost and injured.
The gathering was organized by Women’s March on London, which posted an image titled “We Stand Together,” to social media on Sunday. The image listed reasons people should come together after the attack and invited people to unite in grief, to defy “forces of fear and division,” to support the injured and to show solidarity for equality, justice and peace.
Akeela Ahmed, a women’s rights activist who helped organize the event, told the BBC that it was “powerful and sent a clear message.”
She said participants were advised to disperse after the five minutes were over to keep the tribute low-key and not disruptive.
Many who participated felt the gathering sent a strong message.
“That man wanted to divide us, so by joining hands we are literally doing the opposite of what he wanted. This is London and you are not going to change us,” Kerena Sheath, a 25-year-old who participated in the tribute, told The Guardian. “It was something beautiful to come out of something so hideous.”