UK

Grenfell survivors to hold commemoration one month after fire

Group will march in memory of residents who perished in apartment block blaze

Firefighters use a hydraulic lift to inspect the Grenfell Tower block that was destroyed by fire, June 16th, 2017. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters/File

Fri Jul 14 2017 - 07:47

Grenfell Tower survivors will mobilise a grieving community on Friday with a march to honour the dead exactly a month on from the fire.

The commemoration is to take place in silence and will lead mourners on a short procession around the perimeter of the block’s charred structure.

Organised by Grenfell United, a collective created for those who fled the inferno on June 14th, the walk will culminate at nearby St Clement’s Church in the early afternoon.

People attend a vigil to mark four weeks since the Grenfell Tower fire, at the memorial wall on Bramley Road, London. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

It rounds off a fraught few days for the west London neighbourhood, characterised by both a string of emotional vigils and a heated confrontation between residents and police at a meeting.

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On Thursday, the human cost of the tragedy continued to stack up, as two more of at least 80 people who are believed to have perished in the June 14th blaze were officially named.

The family of Yahya Hashim (13) paid tribute to the “kind, polite, loving, generous, thankful and pure-hearted” boy who is believed to have died with his parents Nura Jamal and Hashim Kidir.

Relatives of 82-year-old grandfather Ali Jafari said he “was loved and will be greatly missed by his family and the wider community”.

Meanwhile, the political tremors of the disaster continued to reverberate, as the Government was urged to end its “fatal obsession with deregulation”.

Safety bodies were among more than 1,000 signatories to an open letter calling on British prime minister Theresa May to rethink the drive to cut so-called red tape under the Conservatives.

A debate in the House of Lords, led by Labour peer Baroness Andrews, culminated in an agreement that safety industry representatives should meet ministers.

She said in Westminster: “This fatal obsession with deregulation in all forms across Whitehall has been pursued with no regards for consequences other than the benefits to business.”

Two more NHS trusts in England and two schools were added to a growing list of buildings that have failed cladding fire safety checks as part of a safety operation launched in the aftermath of the deadly fire.

The National Fire Chiefs’ Council said the fire risks posed by buildings with aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding, which is not of limited combustibility, can be reduced by other actions and further checks.

PA

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