The Arcadia London Center opened as normal on Monday following the awful events of Saturday night in the London Bridge area. All classes and class activities continued as scheduled – with the one exception being the cancellation of an orientation visit to the Tower of London on Sunday which we cancelled as a precautionary measure.
As is always the case following such incidents, London carries on pretty much as usual with people going about their lives and business as they have to do. All transport systems are up and running and, with the exception of the immediate location around London Bridge/Borough Market, all thoroughfares and areas are open. There have been increased numbers of police on the streets – with more of them being armed – for a number of years now and this is something which we are also growing accustomed to.
After these atrocities, where they are associated with radicalised Muslim extremists, there is often an uptick in reported hate crimes against the Muslim community. These crimes have, thankfully, been isolated and against the general tide of public opinion. For the most part and for most people the message, which comes out through the media and through people in the streets, is one of unity and the importance of building bridges within London’s incredibly diverse population as the appropriate response to those who would wish to divide us.
London remains a statistically very safe city and our intelligence and emergency services are certainly among the most effective and efficient in the world in both preventing such incidents and dealing with incidents when they do occur.
-Andrew George, Regional Director UK & Ireland, Director of London Center