Liverpool, United Kingdom – Several people were injured Monday evening in Liverpool, northern England, after a car drove into a crowd of fans during a parade celebrating Liverpool FC’s Premier League title victory, according to authorities and AFP journalists on the scene.
An AFP journalist reported seeing at least four people being evacuated on stretchers. Police announced the arrest of a 53-year-old man from the Liverpool area in connection with the incident.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the scenes in Liverpool as “appalling” in a post on X (formerly Twitter). He added, “My thoughts are with all those injured or affected,” calling the event “shocking.” Starmer continued, “I am being kept informed of developments and I ask that we give the police the space they need to investigate.”
Police had received a call shortly after 6:00 PM (17:00 GMT) “following reports of a collision between a car and a number of pedestrians” in the city center. Images circulating on social media showed a dark car driving into a dense crowd of people.
It is worth noting that Liverpool FC was organizing a parade to celebrate its Premier League triumph, with hundreds of thousands of fans present along the parade route.
Eyewitnesses reported harrowing scenes from the accident site. The British news agency (PA) quoted an eyewitness, Harry Rashid (48), who was attending the parade with his two daughters and wife, as saying he “saw people lying on the ground, people unconscious.” Rashid added, “It was horrific. So horrific,” indicating that the car that struck the crowd was “extremely fast,” and he heard the sound of people being hit by the car’s hood.
Photos taken after the accident show police cordons in place along the road, with numerous ambulances and a fire truck also at the scene. A spokesperson for the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) stated, “We are currently assessing the situation and working with other emergency services. Our priority is to ensure people receive the medical help they need as quickly as possible.”1