There were eight arrests in overnight raids in London and Birmingham following yesterday's deadly terror attack outside the British Parliament committed by one British born suspect using a car and a knife. Prime Minister Theresa May told Parliament today that British security services investigated the terrorists behind the attack years ago due to concerns over his links to violent extremism. He was a peripheral figure. The case is historic. He
was not part of the current intelligence picture. There was no prior intelligence of his intent or of the plot. Police have identified the suspect as Khalid Massued, a fifty two year old from Kent with convictions for violence dating back to three His last conviction was in two thousand three for possession of a knife. A full counter terrorism investigation is under way joining us is Julia Ebner, senior researcher at Quilliam of London based think tank that focuses
on counter extreme amisum Julia. A number of so called lone wolf terrorists had drawn the attention of authorities at some point before the attacks, and some say law enforcement agency you should have more leeway to conduct surveillance and act on it, which may lead to issues with privacy
among other things. Where do you stand on that? Yes, so I think Um, it's true that there has certainly been a trend moving away from these coordinated attacks that we knew from Alglida, and especially now that I should is losing ground UH in Syria and Iraq, it has shifted its strategy towards the more UH in inspiring self starter attacks, which are of course a lot harder to
detect and prevent. And I think the British intelligence and security forces have done a tremendous job in preventing dozens
of attacks in the last year. But of course in this it is very hard to even words to survellance measures in place, and with constant monitoring of over three thousand people in the view KAY who are at risk of stating attacks, it's very hard for them to UH to keep an eye on all of them, Julia, Up until now, the UK has been spared of this kind of attack, even though they have happened on the continent. Was it just a matter of time before this happened
in the UK? Or does this attack tell us something new about the state of Britain. Britain's exposure to the sort of attack. Yes, Unfortunately, I think it was just a matter of time because of course these these kind of no tech but high impact attacks like using a truck or using weapons such as a knife, is something that can almost not be prevented. And um, as I said, since there was little all the men was known to the security forces UH the terrorist attacker it was, it
was not possible for the security services to UH. They have to prioritize at some point. So I think um it takes twenty to twenty five people per per individual that they have to monitor twenty four seven so um M I five only has limited capacity to to monitor all the individuals in the UK that are at risk of radicalization. So, Julia, are there any answers, any possible
avenues to stop this or curtail it? I think because it is impossible for the security forces and for the intelligence forces to do it by themselves, we have to take a more civil society that approach to this, and this means working closer with front line workers, but also heating some of the profound community divisions that have arisen in the last years and in fact some of the radicalization hotbed for is limited extremism are the same hotbeds that have also given birth to a lot of far
right movements. So they're in a way far right. And isn't this extremist of feeding off each other's rhetoric and they're helping each other to recruit new people to there for their violent causes, Juliet, We're in this era where countries are closing themselves off, even from countries that used to be allies. Is that affecting the international cooperation against the sort of terror attack? Absolutely, especially now with Brexit. I think one of the main discussion points will be
how to what extends the UK. There has been a leader in counter terrorism efforts across Europe, it has its intelligence services are better i think than than most of your counter terrorism forces or intelligence services um. But of course not being at this at the same table automatically and more after Brexit, not not being able to shape
the debate and more what have a big impact. Also indust regards I think there's there is and also security, especially with security corporation, is a lot about trust and of course some of the trust tests has gotten lost in uh these emerging divisions on an institutional level, on the European level, but on an international level. Really finally, in about thirty seconds, Julia, what do you see as the immediate repercussions of this attack? I think, um, what
what is most important now? Because it's immediately after attacks that the narrative is shaped. What is most important now is for the United Kingdom to uh to stay united, and for Great Britain too. That's the only way Great Pritain you can remain great because what isn't extremist for any form of terrorists are trying to achieve is widening
the rifts within our societies. So I do hope that this one has happened, that in fact communities will stick together and even close to them before and try to give a response to this focus on solidarity rather than hatred. Well, thank you for talking to us about this. That's Julia Ebner. She's a senior researcher at kill Um, a London based think tank.