LONDON — One of the two alleged killers of a British soldier on a London street tried to explain his actions in an amateur video filmed by a passer-by, even as he still clutched a bloody kitchen knife and a meat cleaver.
The video of the young black man — wearing jeans, a grey hooded jacket and a black hat — was taken minutes after the attack on Wednesday and obtained by ITV television.
The man was speaking to passers-by in Artillery Place in Woolwich, southeast London, a few meters away from where the butchered soldier’s body lies on the other side of the street.
The murder scene was just a few meters away from walls of the Royal Artillery Barracks.
“I apologize that women had to witness this today, but in our lands our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe,” he said in a London accent.
After the tirade he returns to the other side of the street, where his alleged accomplice is standing by a blue car that has come off the wrong side of the road and hit a traffic sign. Blood is flowing down the pavement.
The man with the knife and meat cleaver was standing no more than a couple of meters away when he spoke to onlookers.
Explaining his points with his bloodied hands, passers-by walk straight past him as he speaks.
“We swear by the almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone,” he said.
“We must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth…
“Remove your governments, they don’t care about you.
“Do you think David Cameron is going to get caught in the street? When we start busting our guns, do you think your politicians are going to die?
“No, it’s going to be the average guy, like you.”