UK parliament holds minute of silence in tribute to slain MP

By AFP 18 October 2021, 6:16 pm

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Members of the Freedom Hunters For Tamils rights activist organization hold up photographs and placards in honor of killed British lawmaker David Amess as they line Parliament Square in front of the Houses of Parliament in central London on October 18, 2021. (Tolga Akmen / AFP)

British lawmakers fall silent in somber tribute to a colleague who was stabbed to death while meeting constituents, as police probe whether a suspect arrested was motivated by Islamist extremism.

Members of parliament, many dressed in black, pack the House of Commons and stand heads bowed for a minute’s silence in memory of Conservative MP David Amess, who was killed in a church hall on Friday.

“May the bright memory of his rich life ever outshine the tragic manner of his death,” chaplain Tricia Hillas tells the chamber in a prayer.

The attack was the second killing of a UK politician while meeting constituents in five years and prompted calls for an end to sharply divisive partisan rhetoric that has intensified since Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum.