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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Matt Mathers

Police hunt suspect who attacked woman with knife at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park

Getty Images

Police are appealing for information after a woman was attacked with a knife in a "very distressing incident" at Speakers' Corner in London’s Hyde Park.

Video shared on social media appears to show someone dressed in black approaching a woman wearing a Charlie Hebdo T-shirt on Sunday.

The woman is later shown with what appears to be blood on her face as police officers help her. Police say her injuries are not considered life-threatening.

Detective Superintendent Alex Bingley of the Metropolitan Police Service’s Central West Command Unit asked people “not to speculate on the motive for the attack until we have established the full facts.”

Speakers’ Corner is a site in the central London park where people gather for public speeches and debates.

People have gathered there since the 1860s to exercise their right to free speech, with historic figures such as Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and George Orwell known to have visited to discuss the issues of the day.

Detective Superintendent Bingley, added: “This was clearly a very distressing incident for the woman involved and officers have spent time with her, whilst she was being treated for her injury, to get an account of what happened.

“We know that this assault was witnessed by a number of people, many of whom captured it on their phones. I would ask them, if they have not already done so, to contact police.”

There have been no arrests and enquiries continue.

Additional reporting by PA

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