Teenager in court over Tate Modern incident

A 17-year-old boy appeared in court in Bromley, South London, on Tuesday, charged with attempted murder after a six-year-old boy was allegedly thrown from a tenth-floor viewing gallery at the Tate Modern art gallery, one of the United Kingdom's most popular tourist attractions, on Sunday afternoon.

The court was told that the child, a French national visiting London with his family, fractured his spine, arm and leg in the incident, and also suffered a "deep" bleed to his brain.

Police have confirmed there is no connection between the suspect and the victim, who landed on a fifth floor roof, and have appealed for any witnesses who may have seen the incident to come forward, in addition to those who have already provided details of what they saw.

"It would have been incredibly distressing to watch, and it may be that you left Tate Modern very quickly after," said Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector John Massey.

"If you have not yet spoken to us about what you saw, please contact us without delay.

"We are grateful for the support of the public, some of whom detained the male arrested in the immediate aftermath of the incident. He was arrested by officers very quickly afterward.

"This was a truly shocking incident, and people will understandably be searching for answers. At the moment, this is being treated as an isolated event with no distinct or apparent motive."

The Times newspaper quoted one visitor to Tate Modern as having observed a man "acting weird" shortly before the incident took place.

"There was a man acting suspiciously," said 47-year-old Nancy Barfield. "He followed us around and I told the kids:'Stay away from that man.' He was acting weird. He had his hands behind his back and was watching us all the time. When he moved away from us we thought: 'Thank goodness he has gone away.'"

Shortly afterwards, she heard a loud bang and a woman screaming "That's my son," and about ten people surrounding the man she had observed earlier. She described him as aged between 19 and 21, white and having a "messy" beard.

The New York Times reports another eyewitness as saying that when the suspect was asked what he had done, he said it was the fault of social services.

Tate Modern is on the south bank of the River Thames, close to landmarks such as London Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and the Shard, directly across the river from St Paul's Cathedral.

It is a former power station which was converted into a modern art gallery, a partner of the longer-established Tate Britain gallery further west along the Thames at Millbank in Westminster, and opened in 2000.

The viewing platform was opened in 2010 and gives access to spectacular views across the London skyline, and in 2018 it helped Tate Modern become the UK's top tourist attraction, with an estimated 5.9 million visitors, according to the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions. It was open for business as usual the day after the incident, but the viewing platform was closed.