Pubgoers tried to fend off knifemen with chairs

DINERS and pubgoers fought the terrorists attackers with chairs, bottles and anything they could get their hands on, it has emerged.

One witness to the attack has been praised after he said he began throwing things at knifemen in a desperate bid to fend them off.

A man, named as Gerard Vowls in the media, said he was in the Ship pub near Borough Market when the attack took place.

He said he saw a woman being stabbed by three men at the south end of London Bridge, towards the market.

“They were running in all the pubs and all the bars and they were stabbing everyone”, he said. “I was throwing bottles at them, pint glasses, stools, chairs.

He added: “They were running up saying ‘this is for Allah’, they ran up and stabbed this girl, I don’t know how many times, 10 times, maybe 15.

“She was going ‘help me, help me’ and I could not do anything. I tried to help her, I threw something at them.

“There was a bike on the floor, I tried to pick up the chair but it was locked to it, to throw it at them, to get them away from her.”

He added: “I know it’s a silly thing to do but I was just trying to save people’s lives.”

Giovanni Sagristani, 38, and his friends were in the El Pastor restaurant in Stoney Street when one of the attackers came in and stabbed a woman in the chest.

“He came in shouting and just stabbed her,” he said.

Carlos and Giovanni were in a restaurant where an attacker stabbed a woman

Mr Sagristani’s partner Carlos Pinto, 33, who works as a critical care nurse in London, looked after the woman, with the help of his friend, another nurse.

“They took some ice and cloths and tried to stop the bleeding. She lost half a litre of blood in the beginning. He was keeping pressure on the wound,” Mr Sagristani said.

He said fellow diners had managed to push the attacker out of the restaurant by throwing chairs and bottles at him. Once the attacker was outside, staff lowered a security gate and locked people inside.

“After the initial moment of panic, everyone tried to help this girl and stay calm. We were all at the back of the restaurant. There were shots going off outside and we didn’t know what was going on. They kept her conscious. It was very lucky they were there.”

Student nurse Rhiannon Owen was at a cash point when a taxi driver shouted at her to run. “I saw the knife and didn’t turn around again. I just started running as fast as I could,” she said.

The 19-year-old, from Cheshire, saw the attacker behind her and ran into Applebee’s pub, where she joined 30 or 40 others and hid in a stock room.