A man famously lauded as a “hero” in 2017 for fighting off terrorists on the London Bridge has been forced by British authorities to attend “de-radicalization” classes “over fears he may become extremist” after being stabbed eight times, British papers reported.
Forty-nine-year-old Roy Larner became known as the “Lion of London Bridge” after three Jihadis in a van plowed into a crowd of people on London Bridge before stalking from building to building,
killing seven people and eventually reaching the Black and Blue pub where Larner was drinking with friends.
“They had these
long knives and started shouting about Allah. Then it was, ‘Islam, Islam, Islam,’” Larner said. “Like an idiot I shouted back at them … I took a few steps towards them and said, ‘Fuck you, I’m Millwall,'” he said, referring to his favorite soccer team.
He fought them off with his bare fists, sustaining serious stab wounds all over his body but allowing dozens of other patrons to escape.
The BBC called him a “
hero,” Brits pushed for him to be awarded one of England’s highest honors, the George Cross medal, and a Swedish brewery
named a beer after him.
Larner has now been added to a
terrorist watchlist know as Britain’s “Prevent” program after fears he could become an anti-Islam extremist, the Sun reported Monday.
Larner told the paper “They treat me like a terrorist but I’m not political at all.” The Sun reported he was added because people in the “far right” who were anti-Islam had contacted Roy because of his role stopping the terrorist incident.
A year after his 12-day stay in the hospital and 80 stitches from the terrorist attack, Larner was charged with a crime for possessing
illegal painkillers. He was also nearly jailed after spitting on a black photographer while yelling about “foreign” expletives who “stink like shit,” the Daily Mail reported.