Poplar 'acid attack': Two young men taken to hospital after being sprayed with noxious substance in east London

Jonathan Mitchell29 August 2017
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Two young men were taken to hospital after a thug hurled a “noxious substance” at them in a busy east London high street.

Police were called to Poplar High Street at 10.24pm on Monday, where they found two victims – males aged 17 and 20 – having been sprayed with the liquid, feared to be acid.

The two young men were taken to an east London hospital, where the 20-year-old was treated for minor injuries to his eyes, police said. The 17-year-old did not suffer any serious injuries.

Dramatic video has since emerged of paramedics dousing the eyes of one the victims at the scene as shocked passersby watch on.

Police at the scene of the attack

Witnesses told officers they saw the suspect, described as a white man with short blonde hair and aged about 19 to 25, fleeing the scene in a red car in the direction of Cotton Street.

A police spokeswoman told the Standard: “Police were called at 10:24pm on Monday, August 28 to reports of a noxious substance being sprayed in Poplar High Street.

“Officers, the London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade attended and found two victims, males aged 17 and 20. They were taken to an east London hospital.

“Victim one had no injuries and Victim two had minor injuries to his eyes.”

Officers from Tower Hamlets have since launched an investigation.

No arrests have been made.

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Tweet @MetCC. Information can also be reported anonymously

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT