Toufik Kacimi, chief executive of the Muslim Welfare House, speaking to Sky News, said the attack clearly targeted Muslims leaving evening prayers during Ramadan.
Another eyewitness, who gave his name as Athman, told AFP: "People were screaming: "It's a terrorist attack, it's an attack, this guy attacked us", and I had to run back and tried to save people who were still alive and giving water, helping the police".
The Finsbury Park Mosque gained notoriety more than a decade ago for sermons by radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, who was sentenced to life in a USA prison in January 2015 after being convicted of terrorism-related charges.
The 48-year-old driver of the van, who police believe acted alone, was detained by people at the scene and then arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
Some witnesses initially reported seeing two other men fleeing the scene.
Police said that one man had been arrested at the scene and that no further suspects had been identified.
Amin said that when people seized the driver, "he was shouting: 'All Muslims, I want to kill all Muslims.' Literally, he said that".
London police closed the area to normal traffic.
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"This had all the hallmarks of a terrorist incident", said Neil Basu, senior national co-ordinator for counter-terrorism policing. Many police cars and ambulances responded to the incident.
The van struck a crowd of worshippers leaving a mosque early Monday morning, killing one person and injuring several others.
"The imam as well was urging people that, "listen wait til the authorities come and apprehend him".
"This was an attack on Muslims near their place of worship". Eight of the injured were taken to hospitals and the rest were treated at the scene. "He did what he did deliberately to hit and kill as many Muslims as possible, so he is a terrorist".
After chairing a meeting of the British government's Cobra emergencies committee earlier, Mrs May said the attack was "every bit as insidious and destructive to our values and our way of life" as the recent string of terror attacks apparently motivated by Islamist extremism.
Britain's terrorist alert has been set at "severe" meaning an attack is highly likely.
After the London Bridge attack, Khan said there had been a 40% increase in racist incidents in the city and a fivefold increase in the number of anti-Muslim incidents.
"It is why we will be reviewing our Counter-Terrorism strategy and ensuring that police and security services have the powers they need". He was also killed by police. A police officer talks to local people at Finsbury Park in north London, where a vehicle struck pedestrians in north London Monday, June 19, 2017.
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