Shouts for justice at Grenfell protest

by New Worker correspondent

Demonstrators called for justice outside the  draped ruins of the Grenfell Tower block which will be demolished in the autumn. They had walked in silence to the site of the tragedy in West London to hear the names of the 72 victims of the fire that ripped through the building in June 2017 and take part in a memorial rally by the tower.
Fire fighters stood to attention on each side of the road outside Ladbroke Grove station, facing the passing crowd with their helmets at their feet. Passing protestors hugged them and shook their hands.
Vice-chair of Grenfell United, Karim Mussilhy, who lost his uncle in the blaze, told the crowd: “Eight years have passed, eight years since the fire – lit by negligence, greed and institutional failure – tore through our homes, our families and our hearts.
“And still no justice has come. The truth is, there’s almost nothing new to say because nothing has changed. As we stand here eight years on, the only decision this Government has made is to tear down the tower – our home.
“Not because justice has been delivered, but despite the fact it hasn’t – before a single person has been held accountable, to make what happened disappear.
“The tower has stood not just as a reminder of what happened, but of what must change – a symbol and a truth in the face of denial, of dignity in the face of power, of our resistance, of our 72 loved ones who can’t fight for their own justice.
“And now they want it gone, out of sight out of mind, a clear skyline and a forgotten scandal”.
The crowd faced the tower and chanted: “Justice, justice”.
At the end of the rally the demonstrators filed through the gates, which are rarely opened, to pay their respects at the base of the tower to the victims of the blaze that destroyed the 24 storey residential tower.
The final Grenfell Tower Inquiry report, published in September 2024, concluded that victims, bereaved and survivors were “badly failed” through incompetence, dishonesty and greed.
The tower block was covered in combustible products because of the “systematic dishonesty” of firms who made and sold the cladding and insulation, inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick said.