Eyewitnesses have shared harrowing accounts of the chaos when a people carrier ploughed through spectators during the Liverpool FC victory parade, leading to numerous injuries. The incident, which occurred around 6pm, prompted a significant response from police on Dale Street and Water Street, where a man has since been taken into custody.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a 53 year old white British individual from Liverpool has been apprehended in connection with the event.
Harry Rashid, 48, who was attending the celebrative procession with his family, vividly recalled the terrifying event as it unfolded mere feet away from them amidst the throng of revellers.
Read more: Updates as car driven into people after Liverpool parade
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Describing the sudden appearance of the vehicle, he recounted: "It happened about 10 feet away from us. We were just in a crowd and we had no control over where we would be, because it was a very narrow street."
Rashid detailed the shocking moment the people carrier barrelled into bystanders: "The vehicle came to our right. It emerged from just right next to an ambulance, which was parked up. This people carrier just pulled up from the right and just rammed into all the people at the side of us.", reports the Liverpool Echo.
He continued, explaining the direction of the ill-fated vehicle: "It was travelling south, down Water Street, straight towards the Strand."
In a bid for intervention, Rashid described how some individuals attempted to halt the car's rampage: "Then he stalled for a few seconds, probably about 10 seconds. Then the crowd that was a bit further back started rushing at him trying to smash the windows."
Despite their efforts, the situation worsened as Rashid described: "But then the car just ploughed through the rest of them, it just kept going. It was horrible."
Amidst the screams and confusion, he relayed his daughter's reaction to the ordeal: "Then my daughter started screaming and there were people on the ground."
The area was packed with fans in a festive mood, but the atmosphere quickly turned to one of horror. Mr Rashid said: "They were just innocent people, just fans going to enjoy the parade. There were hundreds and thousands of us there because this is probably the busiest part of Liverpool.
"We were shocked, we couldn't believe it."
he added, describing the aftermath of the incident.
Mr Rashid said: "Ambulances were already there. There was one right next to where this occurred, so there was a paramedic inside there.
"But then they started arriving within seconds, they're all trying to get to the crowd and negotiate the crowd, which is very difficult to do, you see, because there's that many people, they constantly been trying to move."
The scene was chaotic as police and paramedics fought their way through the throng. Mr Rashid said: "I saw people lying on the ground. It was horrendous. So horrendous."
Eyewitness and Italian restaurant worker Riva Blu recounted: "So there was just like, a black car just drove straight through the crowd.
"I was just stood there in shock and people were running in so there was no way to get out. I seemed to be the only person that saw it, at least out of the staff, and people didn't seem to know what was going on for a good bit until loads of police arrived and I thought maybe the road was open and, you know, I didn't actually see people get hurt until after I saw people on the floor."
She added: "It was quite scary. We've just been like giving them water. we've had to like, obviously cordon off the restaurant and yeah, I just had try to help people."
Witness Natasha Rinaldi, watching the commotion from a vantage point in her friend's front room, recounted to Sky News: "It was so loud. People sounded desperate. And then we looked out the window and we saw the car (had) run over people.
"Then people started rushing to go after the driver and they tried to break the car. The police did everything to block and to push people away.
"We could just hear screams and screams. We were very confused. Some of my friends were down there and the car was so near them. It was a horrible scene, nobody was expecting it."
She described how "people had stopped the car", pounding on the window "and trying to speak to the driver".
"People were very angry and shocked, and then the police intervened. And then we heard the ambulances coming."
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