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Inside Politics

Terror Incident in London; North Korea Fortifying Its Border After Soldier Defects; The Navy Halts Search For 3 Missing Sailors in Philippine Sea. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired November 24, 2017 - 12:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Meantime our Phil Black now we understand is on the scene. Again, our CNN Bureau not very far away from this location where police are describing an incident. And I'm quoting now using of the word "terrorist incident," so Phil, what more are you learning?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So where I'm standing now as I mentioned earlier, Fredericka, this is Great Malvern Street, down the end there, that's Regent Street, the entrance to Carnaby Street just to one side.

Off to our right-hand side here, that's Oxford Circus, the underground station Oxford Street. This is where police say they have responded to multiple reports of gunfire. Now this statement is brief but it talks about them responding to reports of gunfire both on the street at Oxford Street and underground within Oxford Circus underground station as well.

And they're talking about terrorism because they're saying they're responding to this as if it is a potential terrorist incident. We have nothing more beyond that at this point to believe that it may be terrorism, they're be saying they are not taking any chances at this time.

And what that means in a practical sense is what you see here behind me, that is, this evacuated area. Only a short time ago this was absolutely teeming with people, a huge volume of people here on this very busy Friday night.

This is an incredibly busy and popular shopping area, lots of pubs, lots of restaurants and bars. And I think as you've been hearing there from witnesses, the volume of people here on this Friday night, well, it was even more than you'd normally get, huge numbers.

It's impossible to overestimate that. So what we've been seeing since is just a very orderly evacuation of people from this area. Police initially told people to hide inside if they could, a lot of people fled.

What we're seeing now are people still being guided from the building of which they've been hiding to this point some distance down the road that the police at this point have deemed to be safe so far. There have been a couple of moments where we have seen clear moments of panic. Large numbers of people racing forward as one in something like a stampede. But what we simply don't know at this stage is what sparked that. What triggered that fear and ultimately has triggered this entire ongoing security situation around us.

Some context, and I've mentioned this before as well, but just around the corner from here, up close to Oxford Circus Station and Oxford Street itself is the Palladium Theater where tonight they are getting ready to host the Royal Variety Performance.

Now this is an annual musical and comedy theater stage event attended by people in black tie and normally by members of the royal family as well. For that reason, we've seen a lot of police and security in this particular area already through the day as it is.

But this is something else entirely. The police have been very, very thorough in guiding people from this area and that operation is still going on around me, Fredericka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Phil Black, we're going to check back with you. Our colleague Diana Magnay I understand was really on the thick of it as well right there in Oxford Circus. So Diana, I understand that you experienced that kind of rush of people, the crowd dispersing. Tell me what happened.