Somalian migrant detained after car ploughs into people in London (VIDEOS)

A Somalia-born British man has been detained on suspicion of attempted murder after a car ploughed into pedestrians in London.

Five people suffered non-life-threatening injuries when a car struck shoppers in Ealing Broadway on Saturday. The Metropolitan Police said the driver fled the scene but was apprehended in nearby Grange Park shortly afterward.

“The driver, a 34-year-old Somalia-born British man, was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and attempted murder,” a police spokesperson said.

“While investigators are keeping an open mind as to any potential motive, the incident is not being treated as terrorism,” police said.

The incident took place amid intense debate over immigration levels and violent crime involving migrants.

Earlier this month, a Sudanese asylum seeker was charged with attacking a man with a knife on a street in Belfast. The assault, which was caught on camera, sparked riots in the Northern Irish capital. Several days later, a British man of Pakistani descent allegedly stabbed a 17-year-old girl in Brierfield.

Anti-racism demonstrations were subsequently held across the UK. In Glasgow, Scotland, anti-racism activists clashed with counterprotesters.

Last week, an assailant injured five people on the streets of Edinburgh in what Prime Minister Keir Starmer described as anti-Muslim attacks. The suspect reportedly said after his arrest that he was “protecting the country” from Muslims.

The rampage came against the backdrop of a report released by Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe detailing how predominantly Pakistani men had raped and abused large numbers of mostly white British girls across nearly half of the UK’s municipalities over several decades.