Bob CollinsA woman at the scene of this week’s terrorist attack in Westminster is finding out firsthand how fake news works.
Photographer Jamie Lorriman took this photo of a Muslim woman on the Westminster Bridge as people came to the aid of a victim.
The Internet took it from there:
Muslim woman pays no mind to the terror attack, casually walks by a dying man while checking phone#PrayForLondon #Westminster #BanIslam pic.twitter.com/B83Jwno65t
— Texas Lone Star (@SouthLoneStar) March 22, 2017
As terrorist victims lie injured or dead on Westminster bridge this afternoon, a "moderate Muslim" in a hijab walks past unconcerned. pic.twitter.com/0jgYFBC7D7
— Geeza. #Brexit (@Geezajay2013) March 22, 2017
The face of Muslim indifference and hatred of us. Walking past the dying on Westminster Bridge #londonattack pic.twitter.com/2mWU1URcSJ
— Humphry Polesworth (@123Polesworth) March 23, 2017
Lorriman, who was obviously at the scene, tells the Guardian that people spreading it maliciously are wrong.
“Looking back at the pictures now she looks visibly distraught in both pictures in my opinion,” he said. “She’s in the middle of an unfolding horrific scene… I think her expression to me says that she’s horrified by what she’s seen and she just needs to get out of the situation.
“We were all being told to clear the bridge at various stages, so it’s not unreasonable to think she’d been told to leave the bridge at some point just like everybody else.”
“The look on the woman’s face, she’s horrified, she’s in the middle of a traumatic situation. She probably just wanted to get off the bridge.
“I feel so sorry for the woman in the picture. If she’s seen this, she must feel awful,” he said.
A picture is worth 1,000 words. Sometimes, all the words are wrong.
