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Grenfell Tower fire: protesters enter Kensington town hall – latest
Grenfell Tower fire: protesters enter Kensington town hall – latest
(35 minutes later)
4.59pm BST
16:59
Unite is to donate £100,000 to the Red Cross London Fire Relief appeal set up to assist people affected by the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
The union has dozens of members living in the tower, some of whom have lost their lives. It also announced it would be providing legal assistance to the residents to ensure they are able to pursue the inquiry it says is now urgently needed. General secretary Len McCluskey said:
We must get answers as to how this happened and action to ensure that this never happens again.
Unite itself is grieving at the loss of our members who lived in that tower. We are volunteering on the ground in an effort to offer the community every assistance during this traumatic time.
We will not rest until the full truth of what has gone is uncovered and we will not be allowing the shameful cuts to legal aid to prevent that truth from being exposed. Unite is sending lawyers to the community and has set up a freephone number for anyone needing legal assistance.
4.55pm BST
16:55
This video shows the council’s statement being read to protesters outside Kensington town hall:
Friend of #GrenfellTower fire victim reads out statement from Kensington council amid protest at council building https://t.co/CLEIhCldzN pic.twitter.com/JUZhdMxfZY
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4.52pm BST
16:52
Labour has called on the government to lift the borrowing cap on housing revenue account so councils can pay for all housing to meet safety standards.
The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, said:
The tragic fire that occurred on Grenfell Tower must never be allowed to happen again. The lessons of Camberwell, Shepherd’s Bush and Southampton have not been learned, and it is the responsibility of government to provide solutions.
The government must now as a matter of urgency lift the housing revenue account borrowing cap to free councils to undertake the urgent retrofitting work required on all existing housing stock found not to meet required safety standards.
Councils must also be given the power, as Labour’s housing manifesto pledges to do, to borrow to invest in council housing on the scale necessary to allow all those living in homes deemed to be unsafe to be properly rehoused.
Updated
at 4.58pm BST
4.48pm BST
16:48
Emotions are running high at the protest at Kensington and Chelsea town hall. They were demanding that the chief executive or council leader come out to address them but instead were given a written response by the council’s head of communications.
There were many chants of “Not 17”, a reference to the fact that they believe many more than 17 perished (the official toll has actually been raised to 30).
Updated
at 5.04pm BST
4.39pm BST
16:39
The second demand by the protesters was that funds be released by the council to help those affected in the short and long term.
The council statement said:
We are already releasing funds to look after the immediate effects of all those affected.
The protesters also requested a list of the number of people in Grenfell Tower.
The response was:
This is not a matter for the council but for the coroner, police and other emergency services.
The council’s head of communications said he would strive to get them a number of residents by the end of the day, Mustafa, who was reading the council’s responses, said.
Updated
at 4.41pm BST
4.36pm BST
16:36
A response from Kensington council’s head of communications to the five demands of the protesters is being read out by a protester named Mustafa.
There’s a lot of anger as he is reading them.
The first was demand was that people be housed in the borough.
In response, the statement says they will be housed “as locally as we can but we may need help from the closest neighbourhoods”.
4.26pm BST
4.26pm BST
16:26
16:26
Protesters entering Kensington town hall
Protesters enter Kensington town hall
Damien Gayle
Damien Gayle
Over at Kensington town hall, protesters have entered the building and are in the lobby chanting: “We want justice.”
Over at Kensington town hall, protesters have entered the building and are in the lobby chanting: “We want justice.”
Updated
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at 4.27pm BST
at 4.32pm BST
4.21pm BST
4.21pm BST
16:21
16:21
The Sky News reporter Joe Tidy is broadcasting live from a protest that began at Grenfell Tower and is headed towards Kensington town hall, where another protest is already taking place (see below). People are chanting: “We want answers. We want justice.”
The Sky News reporter Joe Tidy is broadcasting live from a protest that began at Grenfell Tower and is headed towards Kensington town hall, where another protest is already taking place (see below). People are chanting: “We want answers. We want justice.”
Tidy says it appears to be a spontaneous protest.
Tidy says it appears to be a spontaneous protest.
Protest. #GrenfellTower https://t.co/BqoAXzsaax
Protest. #GrenfellTower https://t.co/BqoAXzsaax
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at 4.27pm BST
at 4.27pm BST
4.07pm BST
4.07pm BST
16:07
16:07
Damien Gayle
Damien Gayle
There is a palpable anger outside Kensington and Chelsea town hall. News cameras are focused on Lily Allen, but among local people there is discomfort with the authorities and the media.
There is a palpable anger outside Kensington and Chelsea town hall. News cameras are focused on Lily Allen, but among local people there is discomfort with the authorities and the media.
“Why are the media lying for Theresa May?” one local women asked. “It’s disgusting.”
“Why are the media lying for Theresa May?” one local woman asked. “It’s disgusting.”
Another woman said:
Another woman said:
We’re angry, very upset. We feel we’re on our own. The firemen, they say they are angry. The only people that have been honest to us are the firemen.
We’re angry, very upset. We feel we’re on our own. The firemen, they say they are angry. The only people that have been honest to us are the firemen.
Crowds are continuing to gather and a speaker called on demonstrators to remain in place until the council leaders make a statement pledging an independent investigation and rehousing for all those affected.
Crowds are continuing to gather and a speaker called on demonstrators to remain in place until the council leaders make a statement pledging an independent investigation and rehousing for all those affected.
#GlenfellTower demonstrators gathered outside Kensington town hall pic.twitter.com/77GAjUzbyN
#GlenfellTower demonstrators gathered outside Kensington town hall pic.twitter.com/77GAjUzbyN
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3.43pm BST
3.43pm BST
15:43
15:43
Jamie Grierson
Jamie Grierson
A former British army officer who is leading the volunteer effort at Notting Hill Methodist church said the devastation caused by the fire was comparable to that he had witnessed at war.
A former British army officer who is leading the volunteer effort at Notting Hill Methodist church said the devastation caused by the fire was comparable to that he had witnessed at war.
Ian Pilcher, a former captain who served with the King’s Regiment in Northern Ireland, the Balkans and north Africa, has been helping with logistics at the church since Wednesday.
Ian Pilcher, a former captain who served with the King’s Regiment in Northern Ireland, the Balkans and north Africa, has been helping with logistics at the church since Wednesday.
Pilcher, 50, now a private security consultant, said the church had received a couple of metric tonnes of food, drink and toiletries, as well as seven Luton vans full of clothing. From predominantly walk-in donations, the church had also received televisions, mobile phones and even vehicles, he said.
Pilcher, 50, now a private security consultant, said the church had received a couple of metric tonnes of food, drink and toiletries, as well as seven Luton vans full of clothing. From predominantly walk-in donations, the church had also received televisions, mobile phones and even vehicles, he said.
Pilcher woke to the noise of “siren after siren after siren” in the early hours of Wednesday and witnessed the blaze. He said:
Pilcher woke to the noise of “siren after siren after siren” in the early hours of Wednesday and witnessed the blaze. He said:
In many ways it’s like being in a war because of the number of innocent people. In places like Bosnia there were many innocent people and there was a clear enemy. Here, nobody expected to die in their beds because there’s a fire.
In many ways it’s like being in a war because of the number of innocent people. In places like Bosnia there were many innocent people and there was a clear enemy. Here, nobody expected to die in their beds because there’s a fire.
I left the army in expectation of a peaceful life. Nobody expects this sort of thing to happen so close to home.
I left the army in expectation of a peaceful life. Nobody expects this sort of thing to happen so close to home.
Pilcher said volunteers had arrived from across London and outside the capital to help.
Pilcher said volunteers had arrived from across London and outside the capital to help.
Frmr British army captain Ian Pilcher, volunteering at Notting Hill Methodist church, says fire scenes comparable to war. pic.twitter.com/kI1l8qITva
Frmr British army captain Ian Pilcher, volunteering at Notting Hill Methodist church, says fire scenes comparable to war. pic.twitter.com/kI1l8qITva
Updated
Updated
at 3.49pm BST
at 3.49pm BST
3.40pm BST
15:40
Sarah Marsh
The Guardian has heard that Corpus Christi College in Oxford is no longer taking donations. The Central Gurdwara (Sikh temple) in Kensington and Chelsea is also now closed for donations. However, people still keen to give can send items to the community centre on 57 Acklam Road, W10 5YS. Many centres have now been overwhelmed with donations, so it’s advisable to call up first before sending items down. It also may be better to offer support in other ways, for example as a volunteer, helping to sort through donations, or by giving money to the British Red Cross fund.
Updated
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3.36pm BST
15:36
Seraphima Kennedy, who worked for the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) between 2007 and early 2016, told BBC Radio 4’s the World at One that the organisation was “massively overstretched”.
The TMO, like lots of other housing providers in London and across the country was functioning in a severely squeezed environment. They were massively overstretched.
She added:
This cuts right to the heart of how the state views the poorest people in society. We have sprinklers in society; we don’t have them in high rise council blocks. Because they are too expensive? Because it would be disruptive? I mean it really does make you ask questions about how the state values lives and which lives it values.
Kennedy has written this for the Guardian.
Updated
at 3.48pm BST
3.28pm BST
15:28
What we know so far
Here’s a summary of where things currently stand:
The police have confirmed that at least 30 people have been killed in the Grenfell Tower fire amid continuing anger at the length of time being taken to identify the victims. A Met police commander said the death toll was likely to rise. The Met is supporting 36 families.
More than 70 people remain unaccounted for according to residents, posters and social media appeals. The Met cannot confirm the number of missing people.
NHS England said 24 people were still being treated in hospitals across London, of whom 12 remain in critical care. One of 30 known victims died in hospital.
The artist Khadija Saye has been named as one of the victims, according to a family friend, the Labour MP David Lammy. The Syrian engineering student Mohammed Alhajali, 24, was the first victim to be identified. He died in the blaze, while his older brother Omar, 25, was taken to hospital after escaping.
Theresa May has visited some of the victims of the fire at a private meeting at Kensington and Chelsea hospital, after being widely criticised on Thursday for leaving the scene of the fire without meeting residents.
The level of anger on the streets around the tower has been rising as desperate people with missing loved ones plead for more help from the authorities. The Commons leader, Andrea Leadsom, was heckled as she visited the scene.
Gavin Barwell, who was housing minister before losing his seat in last week’s general election and is now the prime minister’s chief of staff, has ducked questions about his failure to act on warnings about fire safety in the wake of the Lakanal House fire in 2009. Barwell refused to answer Sky News questions over why he delayed a review into tower block fire safety.
The foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, has accused Labour of “outrageous politicking” over the fire. Writing on Facebook he said: “There has sadly been some political game playing about the terrible fire in London.”
The Queen and the Duke of Cambridge visited community leaders, volunteers and some of the survivors at Westway sports centre. The visit raised questions about why Downing Street cited security concerns for May’s failure to meet residents.
Concern is growing about whether residents evacuated from the area will be rehoused locally, as the government has pledged. Kensington and Chelsea council said survivors may have to be rehoused in other council areas, but later claimed this statement was wrong.
A vigil for the victims is being planned this evening around Grenfell Tower. A Justice for Grenfell! protest will also take place outside the Department for Communities and Local Government in Marsham Street.
Scotland Yard have launched a criminal investigation into the fire after it emerged that cladding panels similar to those likely to have been used on the 24-storey building have been widely prohibited on tall buildings in the US since 2012.
Material used in the cladding that covered Grenfell Tower was the cheaper, more flammable version of the two available options, an investigation of the supply chain has confirmed. Omnis Exteriors manufactured the aluminium composite material (ACM) used in the cladding, a director, John Cowley, told the Guardian.
Updated
at 3.46pm BST
3.14pm BST
15:14
Haroon Siddique
Authorities already under fire for their insensitivity have rubbed salt into the wounds of residents near Grenfell Tower by hand-delivering them letters today about antisocial behaviour (the warning relates to ball games played in the courtyard), ITV’s Paul Brand tweets. The letter, from the tower’s management company KCTMO, is dated Wednesday, the day of the fire.
Incredibly, people in flats opposite #Grenfell today received letter warning them about anti-social behaviour, threatening legal action. pic.twitter.com/w8SQepjpOB
Residents here are shaking with rage. One woman ran up to me screaming through gritted teeth. Incredibly it was hand-delivered by TMO.
Updated
at 3.24pm BST
2.53pm BST
14:53
Kate Connolly
Footage of a massive fire at an empty block in Frankfurt in 2012 that was clad in polystyrene, or styrofoam, featured in a German TV documentary.
Frankfurt’s fire director Reinhard Ries is on camera saying: “The fire took hold extremely quickly, reaching incredible temperatures immediately.”
The styrofoam soon turned into a “liquid, burning sea”, he says. “Everything within 300 seconds had developed into a huge fireball as if thousands of litres of petrol had been set alight.”
The incident led to Frankfurt fire services putting out a nationwide appeal to firefighters to log similar fires – 100 were logged up until 2017 – and Ries and his department started lobbying German politicians to rethink cladding whose main purpose was to increase insulation and energy efficiency.
Updated
at 3.00pm BST
2.39pm BST
14:39
Council to clarify rehousing statement
Kensington and Chelsea council is rowing back on its statement that it may not be able to house all the surviving victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in the local area.
A spokesman said its statement sent out at 1.46pm was “wrong”.
It said:
While we will try do our utmost to ensure those affected remain in or near the borough, given the number of households involved, it is possible the council will have to explore housing options that may become available in other parts of the capital.
The housing minister Alok Sharma told MPs on Thursday that the government guaranteed “that every single family” from the Tower would be rehoused in the local area.
A council spokesman said: “Our understanding has changed. Once our housing people have looked at this in greater detail we will be issuing a new statement.”
Updated
at 2.43pm BST
2.27pm BST
14:27
Mark Sweney
King’s College hospital is to lodge a complaint with the press watchdog over a journalist who allegedly impersonated a friend of a victim of the Grenfell Tower fire in order to get an interview with him.
The hospital is to file a complaint with the Independent Press Standards Organisation about the behaviour of the Sun reporter. It has also written to News UK, the publisher of the Sun, Times and Sunday Times, about the incident.
“Following an incident at King’s College hospital, we have formally written to the Sun and will be informing the Independent Press Standards Organisation,” said a spokeswoman for King’s College hospital NHS foundation trust. “We are unable to comment on the specifics until our complaint has been investigated.”
It is understood that the Sun was trying to get an interview with Mario Gomes, a resident on the 21st floor who has been hailed as a hero after racing back into the building to find his 12-year-old daughter.
2.02pm BST
14:02
Some Grenfell residents to be rehoused outside the area
People who have lost their homes in the Grenfell Tower fire may be rehoused in other areas of London despite commitments by the government to house them locally.
Kensington and Chelsea council said 110 households had been given temporary accommodation by Friday morning, and added that it was working to find more permanent homes.
But the authority’s latest statement said: “While we will try do our utmost to ensure those affected remain in or near the borough, given the number of households involved, it is possible the council will have to explore housing options that may become available in other parts of the capital.”
The households include people living in nearby blocks which have been evacuated because of the disaster.
The housing minister Alok Sharma told MPs on Thursday that the government guaranteed “that every single family” from the tower would be rehoused in the local area.
Theresa May gave a vaguer commitment. On Thursday she said: “I want to reassure the residents of Grenfell Tower – all of whom are in our thoughts and prayers – that the government will make every effort to make sure that they are rehoused in London and as close as possible to home.”
In his letter to the prime minister, the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, urged May to “confirm as a matter of urgency that everyone from Grenfell Tower and other evacuated properties will be rehoused locally immediately”. (see earlier)
Updated
at 2.30pm BST
1.53pm BST
13:53
Boris Johnson accuses Labour of 'outrageous politicking' over fire
Martin Belam
Boris Johnson has posted on Facebook to accuse Labour of “outrageous politicking” over the Grenfell Tower fire.
After lamenting that “there has sadly been some political game playing about the terrible fire in London,” the former mayor of London goes on to criticise his successor Sadiq Khan and the Labour party. Johnson defends his record on fire safety during his time as mayor, stating that the number of fires and number of fire-related deaths fell year-on-year during his tenure.
Johnson is correct about fire safety improving during his terms as mayor. However, as this chart from the London fire brigade shows, that has to be seen in the context of a pre-existing trend downwards that had started well before Johnson assumed office in 2008.
Johnson’s comments haven’t gone down entirely well on the social network. One of the comments prominently displayed under the foreign secretary’s post says:
Gosh, Boris. So your opinion is more valid than the hundreds of fire fighters that are in direct opposition to your spin and lies? Man up for once and take it on the chin.
Updated
at 2.04pm BST
1.53pm BST
13:53
Holly Watt
The lead architect for Grenfell Tower was Nigel Whitbread, who worked for Clifford Wearden and Associates. Whitbread is believed to live in Kensington, London, within half a mile of Grenfell Tower.
The building began in 1972 and finished in 1974. It was renovated last year, with external cladding added to the design. Serious questions have been raised about the new cladding.
Last year, the artist Constantine Gras described meeting Whitbread and escorting him on a tour around the estate. On the tour, Whitbread met residents and said it was “delightful to hear that residents thought flat arrangements worked well”.
Whitbread wrote an article about the development, saying it was the “first and only tower block I designed”.
In his article for Gras’s blog, Whitbread said that the Grenfell design had been influenced by the partial collapse of Ronan Point in Newham, east London, and was structured to stand for over a century.
Whitbread said: “Ronan Point, the tower that partially collapsed in 1968, had been built like a pack of cards. Grenfell tower was a totally different form of construction and from what I can see could last another 100 years.”
Whitbread, 78, said the Grenfell building was unusual in that it was designed so that “you could take away all those internal partitions and open it up if that’s what you wanted to do in the future”.
Whitbread said he went for an unusual internal apartment layout.
“I also don’t know of any other council built tower block in London or anywhere else in England that also has the central core and six flats per floor rather than four flats which is typically done on the London county council or Greater London council plans.”
Whitbread and his team decided that “putting bricks one on top of the other for 20 storeys was a crazy thing to do”.
Instead, we “used insulated pre-cast concrete beams as external walls, lifted up and put into place with cranes and they were so much more quicker”.
Discussing last year’s renovations before the disaster, Whitbread said the cladding had improved the insulation, but changed the building’s appearance. “We lost some of this verticality in the recent recladding but it’s not the end of the world. And the building is now better insulated as we had different standards then.”
Whitbread also said he was concerned about questions over the heating. He said: “I’m very much against knocking things down unnecessarily. I had heard that there had been problems a few years ago with the heating and it was no good and talk of the whole block having to come down. And I thought, if my heating goes wrong, I don’t want to pull my house down.”
