Six people have been injured in a noxious substance attack in Stratford this evening.
Police were called to the area around the Stratford Centre just before 8pm to reports of a group of men spraying a substance at people.
A Met spokesman said that “a number of people have been reported injured at different locations” in the vicinity of the shopping centre, and that the attack was not being treated as terror related.
One man has been arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm.
London Ambulance Service crews, including the hazardous response team, and the London Fire Brigade also attended to treat those injured.
Officers remain at the scene and a cordon is in place, with Great Eastern Road sealed off.
Paul Gibson, London Ambulance Service’s assistant director of operations, said: “We have treated at least five people and taken three of them to hospital following the incident in Stratford. We remain on scene.”
Witnesses at the scene said an argument broke out among a group of people.
A man who gave his name as Hossen, 28, a Burger King assistant manager, said he saw a victim run into the fast food outlet bathroom “to wash acid off his face”.
He said: “There were cuts around his eyes and he was trying to chuck water into them.”
Inside the Burger King toilets, water could be seen all over the floor, along with toilet tissue and medical gloves.
Outside, people gathered at police cordons while victims were being treated behind a blue screen.
Many of those at the scene, kept inside the cordon by police, were visibly upset by the incident.
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