23/01/2017 London News

Police investigate a spate of anti-Semitic attacks

Holocaust survivors give their reaction to the rise in hate crimes.

that I really have no words to express it.

The Met says it is increasing patrols ahead

I am flying to Luxembourg but I have been told we are being transported

to Stansted by bus. After fog grounds hundreds

of flights, a warning of We'll bring you the latest as the

capital is issued with its highest Do you think the cost of restoring

the Houses of Parliament We reveal the findings

of a new poll. And capturing the memorable moments

of 2016, a new exhibition shows the year in images taken

by professional photographers. Good evening, welcome to programme

with me, Riz Lateef. "This won't be tolerated" -

the words of the Mayor of London about the rise in anti-Semitic crime

here in the capital. He was speaking at

a special ceremony ahead of It comes after a string

of hate crimes in North London Sadiq Khan has told BBC London

police are stepping up More from our Home Affairs

Correspondent, Nick Beake. Although seven decades may have

passed since the horror of the Holocaust, for some, the memories

are still vivid. Many, the pain is still raw. At City Hall, the

remembered the victims. But the Mayor is among those worried that

today in 2017, in this city, people are being targeted just because they

Jewish. This brick with a swastika emblem was hurled through the window

of a family in North West London this weekend, one of four

anti-Semitic attacks. We have zero tolerance towards hate crime. The

police are looking at CCTV footage, they are speaking to Jewish

communities to reassure them, we are taking this very seriously and we

will get to the bottom of it. On Friday afternoon the police

discovered anti-Semitic graffiti and one port of Edgware. Hours later, a

woman was -- one part. A woman was out. Down the road a few hours

later, a swastika was drawn on the window. One group which tries to

tackle Jewish hate crime thinks abuse online is going unpunished and

leading to more persecution on the streets. Today, social media is a

cauldron of which the current wave of anti-Semitic hatred is being

brewed. Social media has been wonderful in many respects, but it

has also given voice to many people who want to promote all manner of

anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. The Met say they have not seen the

evidence yet to prove these latest incidents are linked, but say it is

of huge concern the Jewish committee is being targeted in this way. But

anti-Semitic as well as Islamophobic incidents the increase. -- the

Jewish committee -- Jewish community forced back at City Hall, Mala

Tribich lit a memorial candle. As someone who escaped the Nazis in the

1940s, she is deeply saddened by this we can's events. It is like a

stab in my heart. Because I have seen a lot of anti-Semitism and I

have seen the result of it, people have witnessed the Holocaust. Also

this weekend, an advert on the tube for a film about Holocaust denial

was defaced. So far no one has been arrested over any of these

incidents. The capital's been issued

with its first "very high" pollution alert,

under a new system for warning It comes on the same day that London

was shrouded in fog, forcing the cancellation

of hundreds of flights. First, let's get the latest

on that pollution warning. Our Environment Correspondent,

Tom Edwards, is in Central London. Just how bad is it? Well, today we

got the very first mayoral a lot of very high levels of pollution, and

the reasons behind that are interesting because what we have got

at the moment is low wind levels, so it does not disperse the vehicle

emissions, but also we have got very high levels of domestic wood

burning, extremely unusual, and in a tweak to the Sadiq Khan said

everyone from the most vulnerable to the physically fit may need to

reduce physical exertion. -- to eat. He also implored people to use

public transport. He is trying to tackle pollution through policies

like the ultralow emissions zone, but campaigners are saying he is not

going far enough, he should do things like banning diesel

completely. Aside from pollution, fog has been causing problems as

well? Yes, lots of disruption at London's airports, Gatwick, London

city and Heathrow, hundreds of flights were cancelled today, the

bad news is that we might get more of the same tomorrow.

This was sitting up this morning as thick fog disrupted many flights. --

City Airport. Passengers were bussed to other airports to get flights. I

am flying to Luxembourg, my flight was at eight o'clock but I have been

told we are being transported to Stansted by bus. I suppose everyone

is in the same boat with beef fog outside, cannot be helped. I suppose

everyone is frustrated. Elliott Ward said it had to cancel flights as air

traffic controllers need to leave more space between planes. --

Peterborough said. The runway here, you might be able to make out a few

of the runway lights in the distance, it is now just after 11

o'clock in the morning and the fog is still bad. Thames Clippers could

not run at all first thing, this was the view from the DL are in East

London. This was Heathrow, which is that suffered thick fog. It had to

cancel 100 flights, but it percent in total. City Airport had to cancel

65, about 25%. At Gatwick, flights were also disrupted. One BBC

reporter was stuck on a plane for over two hours as passengers changed

their minds about going to Belfast. This flight is now two and a half

hours late and is still nowhere near to taking off. The problems started

with the fog, which delayed the flight by two hours, but then as

passengers decided they wanted to get off, presumably because it was

not worth making the journey, Gatwick seems to have fun they do

not have the staff to escort passengers back to the terminal, so

there are further delays, so more passengers want to get off the

plane, so there are further delays, and at the moment, no sign of

departing whatsoever. The weather improved during the afternoon,

allowing more flights, but more fog is forecast for tomorrow morning.

This could again cause problems in the capital's airports.

Coming up later... I will be live outside the Houses of

Parliament, which is in need of billions of pounds of urgent

repairs. But one in four voters say they do not think it is worth it,

they think they should be sold off or knocked down altogether.

Some news coming in, reports of an expulsion at a block of flats in

Hornchurch. Firefighters and the London Ambulance Service are

currently at the scene, we understand. Let's get more from our

reporter, who joins me now. What are we hearing? It is an evolving

situation, we are getting information through to us. We have

had a police statement and we know that there were called to a block of

flats in Hornchurch just after five o'clock after reports of an

explosion. There are London firefighters at the scene, with ten

appliances, also the London Ambulance Service, as well as police

officers. We do not yet know if anyone is injured, or watch the

situation on the ground is, we are still getting that information. At

this stage, officers have said it is too early to confirm the cause of

the explosion, with enquiries are under way. Residents are in the

process of being evacuated from the building, local road closure is in

peace, specifically the Aone to seven, because debris have been

blown on the road. -- the A127. Motorists are being asked to avoid

the area. We will have more in our late bulletin. An evolving

situation, thank you for that. Police have issued a warning to time

wasters after footage of a Bridge. The man posted a video online after

bringing traffic to a halt on the bridge. He has previously posted

clips of himself roofed topping and other famous locations across the

capital. Police are stepping up an appeal

for a man they want to speak to in connection to a sex attack

on a 12-year-old girl. They're hoping releasing this image

could help their investigation. It happened when the schoolgirl

was out jogging on Carshalton High Street

last October. More now on the inquests

into the deaths of 30 British people who were shot while on holiday

in Tunisia. Evidence about the victims has been

heard, including a couple Our reporter Emily Unia

is at the Royal Courts of Justice. What was said? A number of

eyewitness statements or read today, relating to all the events taking

place on the beach in front of the Imperial Marhaba Hotel at Sousse on

the morning of the 26th of June 20 15. There were a number of portraits

relating to individual victims so we heard about Janet and John, a

retired couple from Morden in South London, described as people who were

still very much in love with each other and whose home life revolved

around the simplest pleasures. We also heard a witness statement read

in the court from Anthony Miller, a man who was on the beach at the same

time as Janet and John, he had met in the previous year in the hotel

and they had become friends. He and his wife Julie became friendly with

them and they used to meet up. They would eat and drink together at the

hotel. On the morning of the 26th of June, Anthony Miller describes being

on a sun lounge next to his wife on the beach. He said he saw the

gunman, the -- he thought it was a policeman and he heard noises which

he thought were firecrackers. He then realised the noise was gunfire

and he rapidly decided that he and his wife needed to stay on the

beach, that they did not have time to run away. He pushed his wife onto

the sand, lay on top of her and told her to play dead. After the gunman

had gone, he saw that Janet and John Stocker had both been shot. He

realised there was nothing he could do for them. He said, they did not

stand a chance. Postmortems were confronted -- have confirmed that

they both died from gunshot wounds to the Palace. The inquest continues

for another six weeks. Now to the restoration

of the Houses of Parliament. Over the years, other than for bomb

damage during the Second World War, the buildings haven't been properly

renovated since they were But the cost of restoring the Palace

of Westminster is so high that apparently some people would rather

see it demolished or sold off. Let's join Sonja Jessup,

who can explain. Let's be clear, it is very unlikely

that we will see the Houses of Parliament demolished or sold off.

Those options are not on the table. What is on the table are these very

expensive plans for refurbishment. Some of which would involve all of

the MPs and peers moving out. Because of these costs, it seems to

have infuriated voters one in four have told researchers that they

would rather see this historic Palace of Westminster either sold

off or knocked down. Shrouded in a London fog today,

the Houses of Parliament providing Slightly spoiled, perhaps,

by scaffolding, and inside, crumbling stonework,

ageing electrics - parts of the Palace of Westminster

are in desperate need of repair. It will cost almost ?4 billion -

a price worth paying? A quarter of people asked said

they would rather it was I'm sure there are some people

who would quite like to put a match But it is interesting that the vast

majority of the public, more than 56%, in the same poll,

said we've got to do the work, we should do the simplest,

the swiftest and the most cost-effective way of doing that,

and I believe that is, we've all got to move out for six

years, get the work done as quickly And that is the recommendation

from the committee he serves on. MPs would move to a temporary

building at Richmond house, Actually demolishing the historic

Palace of Westminster is not an option being considered,

though the poll's findings may hint at those disillusioned

and angry with politics. There are others who believe

Parliament is worth preserving, The idea of pulling that down,

such a symbol of world democracy and world liberty,

is just unthinkable. Can you imagine the Americans

or the French thinking of pulling down their Congress,

their White House, or the French,

their National Assembly? It's an institution,

it's an icon of Britain. It's just such a historical place

to see, and a lot of tourists It is a lot of money,

but has anybody work out how much So, if you get rid of

all your iconic buildings, MPs have launched an

enquiry into the costs. They then face the tough job

of convincing the public. Now, there are other alternative

plans also being considered. One would not see all the MPs and peers

having to move out and tell, but they are then even more expensive.

Politicians find themselves in this very difficult position. On the one

hand, they are being told that Parliament faces a crisis if these

refurbishment are not carried out, on the other hand, they face huge

anger from taxpayers that they can keep the costs down. From

Westminster, thank you very much. Still to come, the voters which

defined 2016, join me at the exhibition celebrating the best of

Getty Images. Next, to the rising costs

of London's Olympic Stadium following its conversion

into West Ham's new home. Documents seen by this programme

suggest that the stadium's financial forecast appears to be running

millions of pounds behind schedule. Last week, Sadiq Khan laid out

the terms for his inquiry Mark Jordan is here from

BBC London's Inside Out programme. You have looked at this over many

months, but starting off with the original vision for the stadium. If

you take it from Ken Livingstone winning the Games to Boris Johnson

signing the deal with West Ham, there was an obsession, which was

that there would be legacy, you would not end up with a white

elephant stadium in East London, it would have a purpose and a use and

it would regenerate the area. That was the political obsession, but

what none of us knew is that the bill, after the Olympics, was going

to be ?320 million. A huge bill. That is what has been paid so far.

What have you learnt? We looked at the ten year spreadsheet that the

London Legacy development Corporation or working too, and they

were hoping there would be a prophet, but some things have

happened on the way, the retractable seating in the stadium, they put

that down for ?300,000 a year, it is ending up costing perhaps ?8

million. They have also looked at all sorts of other issues, the

naming of the stadium, they wanted to give it a name that could bring

in millions, still no sign of the sponsor, and add to that West Ham's

trouble with crowd violence last year, which does not make it any

more appealing. As far as I can see there is no end

to taxpayers' money being used to prop up this white elephant. They

have been given the stadium and a taxpayer is paying for it. The money

is mounting up, the losses are mounting up. I would not be

surprised if we get rid of a billion on that thing.

What is the Mayor looking to do? Where do you start looking? Do you

look at Ken Livingstone and Sebastian Coates, who wanted to

reduce it to athletics thing? That was their plan, then Boris Johnson

said, it should stay big and should have a premier football team in it.

Where do you lay the blame? The effect is that as we were building a

stadium that was good to be shrunk, we were also tried to do a deal to

keep it as it was. If you talk to anyone in the construction industry,

the one thing they will tell you is, if you want to avoid massive costs,

do not keep changing the plan. Politicians making decisions about

buildings is an interesting one. You know, there was a vision for what

the stadium was going to be, and that changed, and like all those

things, once you start messing around with stuff, you may have been

better off to knock it down and start again, and that is a big

decision to make, but sometimes, take the pain upfront, knock it down

and struck again, say you got it wrong and move on. It is when we try

and justify it and justify it and justify it, and the costs go up and

up and up. And from the London Legacy

development Corporation, they say that the long-term aim is for the

venue to generate a return to the taxpayer and not require ongoing

subsidy, unlike Boris Johnson three years ago, they are still not saying

when we will get that profit. It is not simple! Thanks very much.

And there's more on that story on Inside Out London,

35 years ago, this programme reported the murder

of 27-year-old artist Keith Church from Broxbourne in Hertfordshire.

Before his death, he studied art at Goldsmiths University

in South London and had produced many pieces.

Now, after decades, his family have decided to hold an exhibition

of his work for the very first time -

and where else but at Goldsmiths University.

His cousin and former BBC London correspondent, Kurt Barling,

has been for a look at his cousin's impressive work.

For Keith Church, the urge to paint started very young. When I went to

an opening before he joined the school, because incoming parents

were invited, there was lots of artwork about and I thought that I

hoped to see something of Keith's one day. So he then is in the school

the next year and I go to the opening, and Keith's art was on

show, and that is me at the kitchen sink! The painting alerted his art

teacher to his artistic talents. The exhibition is only possible because

his mother preserved his artistic legacy. Keith's mother was most

tragically and unexpectedly bequeathed a legacy from her son.

The way she was able to hold onto that beautifully and deliver the

aspiration and inspiration to another generation. As a family, we

decided it was time to bring Keith's work out of the private sphere and

into the public sphere, to join the great art families, so to speak.

Like all artists, he aspired to achieve something beyond himself,

something that would potentially even outlast him. In 1982, the

tragic turn of events that robbed us of his talents and presence meant

that too soon, his work would have lost him. I hope people like what

the sea. -- would outlast him. Then I am happy for them to see it.

From Brexit protests to red carpet premieres -

just a few of the many memorable images of last year.

Now some of the best have been captured in a new retrospective

Alice Bhandhukravi has been to take a look.

Few would deny that last was a memorable year, for its shocks and

losses as well as for its glories, and for the photographers at Getty

Images, whose job it is to document the world around us, 2016 proved

very rich indeed. They have been frantically busy, in some cases

stories have produced huge bodies of work that have been tremendously

compelling. In others they have had to work really hard to find a

defining image. Take this haunting picture of the five-year-old boy

that seemed to move the world to the plight of children living in Syria.

Yes, that image certainly awakened sensitivities at the time that

became -- and became very much a topic of discussion, the sort of

images that actually sparks wider discussion. There is also a stunning

depiction of the big events, from the theatrics of the American

election to the drama of the Olympics in Rio, and look at this

sports action photo. Gael Monfils at the Australian Open. There is

absolutely everything, the light is perfect, the shadow on the ground

separates the player from the ground, it is rare to get a player

diving these days like that in the men's game. Then there is this, from

the blitz in 1942 the same spot on Pall mall in 2016, all in one

picture. It is not easy to sum up that most US year, but the Getty

Gallery goes some way to showing the power of photography in uncertain

times. Now, we heard about the fog earlier,

let's get the latest check Thank you, yes, it did brighten up

in some places eventually, but you heard from Tom earlier, we have had

difficulty already with the foggy conditions. You can just about make

at Tower Bridge in the background. It came with a hard frost this

morning as well and I suspect it will be scenes like this we will be

seeing across London and the Home Counties again tomorrow. The Met

Office has issued a weather warning for fog until 11 o'clock tomorrow

morning, for some dense and freezing fog patches in places. It is a

little confiscated because we have some cloud. -- trumpeted. Underneath

the cloud you usually do not get much fog so it is the clear skies

were watching at the moment. It is most likely South West of London.

Then it will shift East as we go through the night. But even further

East, there could be 12 patches, so go carefully on the roads. And again

it is going to be a cold night with those of Hannes 5-6 in the

countryside. Another frosty start tomorrow and potentially another 41.

There could be problems at the airports, there will certainly be

difficult driving conditions. For most, the fog will lift and break

away and we will have some sunshine for a time in the afternoon. But if

you have been stuck in the fog, it might stick around for much of the

afternoon as well. Temperatures will briefly get to five or six Celsius.

More fog forming of a light into Wednesday but then it will change

slightly, there Willbeme Oort Cloud, fog lifting up, still a cold day on

Wednesday but hopefully after that we will not have so much of a

problem on Thursday with the fog at least but Thursday will be bitterly

cold. It might not suggest that with the temperature, and the sunshine,

but very dry air coming in from the South East which will make it feel

really quite raw. Thankfully, the numbers go up a little on Friday and

Saturday, there is a hint there will be something slightly more mild into

that we can. But watch out for that fog tomorrow morning.

The Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon, has refused to tell

MPs whether an unarmed Trident missile veered off-course

towards the United States during a test last June.

On his first working day as American President,

Donald Trump met business leaders and promised to cut taxes and slash

There are porters of an explosion at a block of flats in Hornchurch.

Firefighters and the police are at the scene. The Mayor of London has

urged a zero tolerance approach to hate crimes. He said the city

remained inclusive, despite anti-Semitic incidents over the

weekend. Sadiq Khan has also issued the capital's first very high

pollution alert under a new system for warning people about poor air

quality. And the fog seems to be a big

talking point on our Facebook page. You can get plenty more on today's

stories on our website. That is it for now, I will be back later during

the ten o'clock News. Thank you for watching and enjoy your evening.