Shoppers at Westfield Shopping Centre in Stratford panicked running for cover this afternoon during the Boxing day sales. A man with a large knife was detained by Police in the Shopping complex a stone’s thrown from West Ham’s London Stadium.
A police spokesman said: “He was stopped by police and searched and a knife was found. He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon. There are no reports of any injuries. The male arrested has been taken to an east London police station for questioning. More police units attended to support Westfield security following this and no further offences were found.”
A spokesman for Westfield said: “There was a minor incident today at Westfield Stratford City where a counter top in the food court was broken.
“This created a loud noise causing a number of shoppers to leave the area. The Westfield onsite security team attended the incident immediately and there were no injuries. The centre has not been evacuated and is open for business as usual. In a separate incident, a man was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon. The safety of our shoppers, staff and retailers is our number one priority and the on-site Met police team dealt with the issue safely and there were no injuries.”
Boxing day is the busiest day of year for Westfield Stratford with over 200,000 people expected through their doors. West Ham have never played a home game on Boxing day since moving to the London Stadium.