Muslim-led crowdfund raises over $30K for London attack victims

Muslim-led crowdfund raises over $30K for London attack victims

A crowdfunding campaign led by Muslim man to fundraise for the victims of the recent Westminster attack in London has raised over $30,000 in a little over a day.
2 min read
25 March, 2017
Ahmed started the fund after witnessing Wednesday's attack [Twitter]
A crowdfunding campaign led by Muslim man to fundraise for the victims and families of the recent Westminster attack in London has raised over 25,000 British Pounds ($31,100) in a little over a day.

The Muslims United for London campaign began on Thursday and by Friday afternoon it had met its initial goal of 20,000 British Pounds, prompting the fund's launcher Muddassar Ahmed to up the target to 30,000 ($37,500) British Pounds.

As of 1:30pm GMT, the campaign had raised 27,182 British Pounds.

Ahmed started the fund after witnessing Wednesday's attack, which left four people dead and at least 50 people from 12 different countries injured.

"I'm angry at the perpetrator. I'm angry at myself for being so helpless. And I'm angry that all my fellow Muslims can do is condemn the attack. Isn't there more?" Ahmed wrote in an op-ed in The Independent.

"And do I really need to remind my fellow Londoners, my fellow Brits, my fellow human beings, that the only jihad fought that day was by the ambulance crews? That the only martyrs are PC Keith Palmer and four pedestrians?"

"And most of all, I'm angry that I don't know what we do next. A vigil? A hashtag? A meme? I've started a campaign to raise money for the victims," he added.

British police said on Friday they had made further "significant" arrests over the Islamist-inspired attack on parliament, as they released the first picture of the homegrown killer who left four people dead.

Khalid Masood, a 52-year-old Briton with a history of violent offences but no terrorist convictions, was shot by police on Wednesday after a rampage through Westminster.

Read also: London Attack: It's time to stop sexing up terror

Two other suspects are in custody following searches at 21 locations, mostly around London, in the central city of Birmingham and in the northwestern city of Manchester.

The Islamic State group claimed that Britain's deadliest terror attack in 12 years was conducted by one of its "soldiers" acting on a call to target countries in the US-led coalition fighting the extremists.

Masood ploughed his rented car into crowds of people walking along the pavement on Westminster Bridge, before crashing the vehicle into the fence outside parliament.

Three people on the bridge died after being hit by the speeding car, then the attacker leapt out and fatally stabbed a police officer just inside the gates of the Houses of Parliament before being shot dead.