The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has commended the 'courage' of Londoners 'pressing on' with their lives following the summer's London Bridge attack. He spoke as he joined the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall last night to meet locals at Borough Market, where the terrorist violence took place.
The June attack saw eight killed and 48 injured after knife-wielding assailants ran wild stabbing bystanders at the crowded market after driving into pedestrians on London Bridge, before being shot dead by police.
The Archbishop joined Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall on a visit to the market meeting vendors, shoppers and local community members talking about the popular cultural hub recovering and preparing for Christmas, according to Associated Press.
'I think what makes it so good is that it looks as though nothing has happened, everyone is just getting on with life which is how you should deal with these sorts of circumstances,' Welby said.
He added: 'I think the courage of people – I was just talking to one of the security guards and someone at the pub – the courage of people of just picking themselves up, pressing on and keeping going just says so much about this country and this city.'
The Archbishop and royal party met witnesses of the attack, including security guard Ganga Garbuja, who protected bystanders from the onslaught by helping barricade them in a pub. Monika Linton, the founder of tapas chain restaurant Brindisa, described the trauma her staff had faced.
'The shootings happened straight outside so it was difficult to know, for our team, whether bullets were going to come through the window...It was terrifying for the staff, they didn't know what was going on, if they were going to set bombs off, we didn't know they were fake till afterwards.'
Welby, Charles and Camilla concluded their visit by joining locals and community leaders for a 'service of light' at Southwark Cathedral, remembering by name the victims of the atrocity.
