I want to say one thing, specifically, to the world today. This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at Presidents and Prime Ministers. It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners. Black and white. Muslim and Christian. Hindu and Jew. Young and old. [It was an] indiscriminate attempt to slaughter irrespective of any considerations for age, for (heart?), for religion, whatever.
That isn't an ideology. It isn't even a perverted faith. It is just an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder, and we know what the objective is; they seek to divide Londoners. They seek to turn Londoners against each other. I said yesterday to the IOC, this city of London is the greatest in the world because everybody lives side by side in harmony. And Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack. They will stand together in solidarity around those who have been injured, those who have been bereaved, and that is why I am proud to be the mayor of that city.
Finally I wish to speak through you, directly, to those that came to London today to take life. I know that you do not fear to give your own life in exchange for taking others'; it is why you are so dangerous. But I know that you do fear that you may fail in your long-term objective: to destroy our free society. And I can show you why you have failed. In the days that follow, look at our airports, look at our seaports, and look at our railway stations. And even after your cowardly attack you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world, will arrive in London, to become Londoners, to fulfil their dreams, and to achieve their potential. They choose to come to London as so many have come before, because they come to be free, they come to live the life they choose, they come to able to feed themselves. They flee you because you tell them how to live. They don't want that. And nothing you do - however many of us you kill - will stop that flight to our cities where freedom is strong, and where people can live in harmony with one another. Whatever you do, however may you kill, you will fail.