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The Riverina’s British expats awoke to another London terror attack on Sunday morning, bringing back memories of life under the threat of Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombings.
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Seven people were killed and 48 injured after terrorists drove a van into a crowd on London Bridge before slashing and stabbing their way to a busy nearby restaurant district.
Cafe owner Rob Illsley said he had been living with this sort of attack his entire life.
“There’s no real sense of horror or shock, it’s just the reality of what we live with in the UK,” Mr Illsley said.
“It was the IRA, now it’s Islamist violence, but the amount of people who’ve come out and said it won’t change the way they live their lives… it raises the hair on the back of your neck and makes you proud to be British.”
It was the third terror attack in as many months. In March, four people were killed and dozens more injured when a car ploughed into a crowd of pedestrians near Westminster Bridge in London.
Two months later, a suicide bombing at a Manchester concert killed 22 people – many of them children – and injured 59 more.
However, instead of cowering in fear, Britain vowed to carry on: Less than 24 hours after the latest London attack, a benefit concert for Manchester victims observed a moment’s silence in a show of solidarity, before singing “Don’t Look Back In Anger”.
British-born Caroline Greenwood said the attacks in London and Manchester would not change her plans to visit family in the United Kingdom later this year.
“You’ve got to live your own life, you can’t walk around in fear,” Ms Greenwood said.
“The terrorists want you to live in fear and if you do then they win, but you’ve got more of a chance of being hit by lightning.
“It’s unfortunate though that attacks have become so common we’re used to hearing about them, but they haven’t phased me at all.”
Former Londoner Justine Isherwood said she was very alarmed by the news, as all of her family still lived in the city.
“The resilience of the British people is renowned, however I do feel as every human does that we all have limits of tolerance and on the inside, yes they’re probably very scared,” Ms Isherwood said. “But we won’t let the bastards beat us.”