“I never thought that was possible here, but I guess everyone is saying that under these circumstances?” “, asks Melanie Harris, a woman in her forties. It is 6 pm, this Friday, October 15, and this resident of Leigh-on-Sea has just come out of work; she went to buy some flowers which she left on a corner of the sidewalk, under the police cordon, in front of the Belfairs Methodist Church.
It was inside this brick building, in the heart of a seemingly uneventful shopping district, between a municipal golf course and quiet tree-lined boulevards, that 69-year-old MP Sir David Amess was assassinated. knives a few hours earlier, as he began his parliamentary office, open to the public.
Vulnerability of MPs
The murder of this member of the Conservative Party, a veteran of the House of Commons, elected continuously since 1983 in Essex (east of London), causes a very strong emotion in the United Kingdom, where Parliament remains the basis of democracy .
This drama also revives the debate on violence against policies and the vulnerability of MPs, five years after the assassination of Labor MP Jo Cox in comparable circumstances. On June 16, 2016, the 41-year-old young woman had just come out of a public library, where she had been on duty (in Yorkshire, in the north of England), when she was stabbed by a supremacist of ‘far right.
Essex Police arrested a 25-year-old man early on Friday after the midday crime. Scotland Yard in the evening described the crime as“Terrorist incident”. To believe the Daily Telegraph, the suspect is said to be of Somali origin.
Horrified reactions and expressions of affection poured in throughout the day. “Everyone is shocked and has a heavy heart”, said Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who hailed in Mr. Amess “A man who believed passionately in his country and in his future”. “ This respected parliamentarian was killed in his own constituency while doing his duty. It is a tragic day for our democracy ”, lamented former head of government Theresa May. Keir Starmer, leader of Labor, the main opposition party, called for the rally “In response to this horrific event. We will show once again that violence, intimidation and threats will never prevail in our democracy. “” All the elected representatives of the political spectrum are united in sadness and shock today “, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon reacted.
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