Woman in Charlie Hebdo T-shirt stabbed in London park

UK police say they are investigating a knife attack on a woman in a London park, with online footage showing she was wearing a T-shirt with a cartoon from Charlie Hebdo, the French magazine targeted by jihadists.

The 39-year-old woman was treated in hospital for a minor slash injury after the attack on Sunday afternoon at Speakers Corner’ in Hyde Park, the Metropolitan Police say.

Footage posted on YouTube showed a man in a hooded top approach a woman holding an umbrella and stab her, apparently several times.

The man then takes off his hood and leaves.

The woman’s T-shirt has the Charlie Hebdo logo and a cartoon showing a Muslim man kissing a cartoonist with the slogan “L’amour plus fort que la haine” (love is stronger than hate).

She has blood running down her face and shortly afterwards collapses to the ground.

Speakers’ Corner is a historic place for open-air debate where people are allowed to make speeches on any lawful subject.

Police do not identify the victim by name but social media says she is Hatun Tash, a preacher from a group called DCCI Ministries that says it seeks to preach the Christian Gospel to Muslims.

Detectives say they have recovered a knife at the scene and the victim gave an account of what happened.

“We know that this assault was witnessed by a number of people, many of whom captured it on their phones. I would ask them, if they have not already done so, to contact police,” says Detective Superintendent Alex Bingley.

Bingley asks people not to “speculate on the motive for the attack until we have established the full facts.”