Police say 'incident' on London Bridge after reports of shots fired

Emergency services cordoned off London Bridge across the River Thames in the centre of the British capital on Friday after reports of shots being fired.

"We are in the early stages of dealing with an incident at London Bridge," the Metropolitan Police said.

A BBC reporter on the bridge at the time said he saw what appeared to be a fight between a group of men, heard two shots and saw a man "prone" on the ground.

The incident happened shortly after 2:00 pm (1400 GMT) on the north side of the bridge. People in the area were quickly ushered away from the scene, images on social media indicated.

London Ambulance Service confirmed it had crews on the scene.

One eyewitness told the BBC she and other people in the area rushed into a restaurant on the bridge and were told by staff to take cover.

"They went, 'Get under the table, shots have been fired. Gunshots'," said the woman.

Footage by one Twitter user, AmandaHunter87, filmed from a bus on the southbound carriageway, appeared to show two armed officers pointing guns towards a man on the ground.

Other images from a high vantage point posted by another user on the platform, Clarerobbo1000, appeared to show the same moment.

A third officer was standing by the two officers with their weapons raised.

The man on the ground was on the pedestrian walkway on the north side of the bridge, just as it starts to cross the river.

In June 2017 eight people were killed and some 48 people were seriously injured when Islamist extremists in a van ploughed into pedestrians on London Bridge before attacking people at random.

The three attackers were shot dead by police.