Three people were stabbed as members of the public tried to intervene in a phone snatch robbery in central London, witnesses have said.
The incident started when a group attacked a pedestrian in Bishopsgate near Liverpool Street station on Thursday morning, according to passers-by.
Witnesses reportedly saw men on electric bikes attempt to steal a phone, with members of the public rushing to help the victim.
It is believed the suspects started to attack those trying to intervene.
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Emergency services rushed to the scene in the City of London financial district following reports of a stabbing shortly before 10am.
Three people were taken to hospital but do not have life-threatening injuries, according to police.
Officers were treating the incident as a suspected robbery, with the incident involving a phone being snatched.
Witnesses described a fight breaking out in front of the 22 Bishopsgate skyscraper on Thursday morning.
One passer-by, who did not want to be named, said he saw two or three young people on bicycles following a smartly dressed middle-aged man before one of them grabbed him.
“Things escalated so quickly. Pedestrians got involved and they were trying to help the middle-aged man. I heard lots of screams and shouts,” they said.
“The next minute, a man on a white moped saw what happened and jumped off, and got himself involved.
“There was a fight. Out of nowhere, the guy on the moped got stabbed. The middle-aged man was already on the floor at this point after he got stabbed and another pedestrian got hurt too, his head was hurt.”
The eyewitness said the teenagers “just took off” after the incident near the busy Liverpool Street station.
The knifeman was wearing a fleece mask, they added.
Sayeed Dukanwala, who owns a newsagent’s nearby, said he saw some people running past his shop shouting “oi oi oi” on Thursday morning.
“After a few minutes I saw a fight break out over there [at the scene] and people running away. Then some people came in and told me there was a stabbing,” he said. “They said there was a man and a lady on the floor and there was blood.”
Mr Dukanwala said he felt “scared and unsafe” when he heard what had happened next to his shop.
A cordon remained in place outside the commercial skyscraper in the hours after the stabbing, with medical kits scattered on the ground inside.
Blood could also be seen on the pavement.
A construction worker told The Sun he saw a teenage boy “fighting an older guy” in the incident on Thursday. “It looked like he was trying to pull his hand trying to get something like his phone,” they said.
“Another teenager then pulled out this huge 10-inch knife and just started stabbing,” the witness told the newspaper.
“People had stopped to try and help. One guy pulled over his moped wearing a red jumper looked like he was stabbed and was holding his stomach screaming. Another man was down lying on the floor bleeding loads from his head.”
The construction worker is reported as adding: “It was mad. It just escalated so quickly and then they took off to escape on the bike.”
Chief Superintendent Steve Heatley from the City of London Police said the force received reports of three stabbings and a person pushed to the floor shortly after 9.45am on Thursday.
“Three victims were taken by London Ambulance Service to a nearby hospital to be treated; they do not have life-threatening injuries,” he said.
“Two suspects are being sought as part of the ongoing investigation related to an attempted phone theft and is not being treated as terror-related.
“Stopping phone thefts and bringing perpetrators to justice is a priority for City of London Police. The number of phone snatches is down, due to focused effort including working with colleagues in the Metropolitan Police Service last week to make several arrests.”
A 22 Bishopsgate spokesperson said: “We are aware of a distressing incident that took place this morning on Bishopsgate, in the vicinity of our building, and our security team provided the police and emergency services with any necessary support while they were on site.
“We immediately carried out a dynamic risk assessment that determined there was no direct threat to the building and therefore have not locked down the building or prevented access to entrances.”
