Westminster terror attack: Birmingham peace vigil planned for Friday evening

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The Birmingham vigil has been organised to promote unity after the city's most prominent mosque issued a statement condemning the Westminster terror attack as "barbaric and heartless".

The city centre event has been organised by the Stand Up To Racism group and MEND (Muslim Engagement and Development) and will begin at 5pm in High Street.

Meanwhile multi-faith leaders, residents, tourists, police and politicians gathered at a candlelit vigil in London's Trafalgar Square, which was led by mayor Sadiq Khan.

He told the packed venue: "Those evil and twisted individuals who tried to destroy our shared way of life will never succeed and we condemn them.

"The victims were people who came from all corners of our world. This a time to express our gratitude to the heroism of our police officers and emergency services who ran towards danger to help, and at the same time they encouraged others to run for safety.

"London is a great city, full of amazing people from all backgrounds. When Londoners face adversity we always pull together."

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said of the attack: "They will not win, we are all connected and we showed that today by coming together, by going to work, by getting about our normal business, because the terrorists will not defeat us, we will defeat them."

Bursts of applause were the only sounds which interrupted the speeches.

Candles were lit and a minute's silence was observed for the three innocent victims who died in the attack.

The plans for a Birmingham vigil were announced after chairman of the city's central mosque, Muhammad Afzal, released a statement condemning the Westminster atrocity.

"Nothing justifies taking lives of innocent people," Mr Afzal said.

"Those responsible must be brought to justice to protect good, in our constant fight to eradicate evil within humanity."

Officials at the mosque recently published a 12-page booklet entitled Terrorism is not Islam, endorsed by West Midlands Police and 29 other major mosques in the city.

Urging calm within all communities and offering condolences to those bereaved by the attack, Mr Afzal added: "The Islamic faith does not allow anyone to take the life of others.

"No religion justifies the indiscriminate killing of individuals in such a barbaric and heartless way, and such acts only serve to differentiate between the misguided and the just.

"We call upon those that may have even a shred of sympathy for the like-minded terrorists to shake their conscience and realise that such acts are the work of evil and not the work of God-fearing people."

In a statement on Facebook, the organisers of the vigil wrote: "Our thoughts are with all those affected by what has happened.

"Birmingham is a united city and we will not let anyone use these terrible events to divide us. Please come and join us on Friday for a unity vigil."

Forty other people were injured in the atrocity, with 29 treated in hospital, where seven remained in a critical condition on Thursday.

The casualties included 12 Britons, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, two Greeks, and one each from Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy and the United States.

Three police officers were also hurt, two of them seriously.