LONDON — Authorities say 27 people, including four children, were taken to the hospital Monday after a car plowed into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans celebrating the Premier League championship.
Two of those people had serious injuries. Another 20 people were treated at the scene.
A 53-year-old white British man was arrested at the scene. Merseyside Police said they are not looking for anyone else and it is not being treated as terrorism.
Witnesses say the driver sped through throngs of people lining the parade route, striking several people before coming to a halt. When the crowd charged the vehicle and began smashing the windows, the driver accelerated and ran over more people.
A video on social media appeared to show a gray minivan strike at least one pedestrian and then veer into a larger crowd of people, carving a path through the group and pushing bodies along the street like a plow before coming to a stop.
The crash happened at the end of an open-top bus parade through the city by the team. Hundreds of thousands of Liverpool fans had lined the streets to celebrate the team winning the Premier League this season.
Harry Rashid, who was at the parade with his wife and two young daughters, said the car began ramming people about 10 feet (3 meters) away from him.
“It was extremely fast,” Rashid said. “Initially, we just heard the pop, pop, pop of people just being knocked off the bonnet of a car.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was being updated on the situation and thanked police for their quick response.
“The scenes in Liverpool are appalling — my thoughts are with all those injured or affected,” Starmer said.
The incident followed a large celebration in the city center, where tens of thousands of dancing, scarf-and-flag-waving fans braved wet weather to line the streets and watch Liverpool’s players display the Premier League trophy atop two buses bearing the words “Ours Again.”
Rashid said after the car struck it’s initial victims, it came to a halt and the crowd charged the vehicle and began smashing windows.
“But then he put his foot down again and just plowed through the rest of them, he just kept going,” Rashid said. “It was horrible. And you could hear the bumps as he was going over the people.”
Rashid said it looked deliberate and he was in shock and disbelief.
“My daughter started screaming and there were people on the ground,” he said. “They were just innocent people, just fans going to enjoy the parade.”