16/06/2017 London News

We will be exploring the anger people in their area are expressing.

We start our coverage with the protest took place at Kensington and

Chelsea town hall. They mark from Grenfell Tower to the

town hall. Three days on from this deadly fire in one of London's

richest boroughs, people here feel they are being ignored. There are

unanswered questions for the victims. The families are upset and

angry and they want answers. Nobody from the council has seen anyone. So

many kids died in so many families. The BBC's Dan Johnson was reporting

as the Demel approached. It looks like the crowd is moving towards the

door of the town hall. That is the main entrance to the officers. It

looks like people are trying to get in. We want justice! And they did.

Almost overwhelming the handful of security. But the local council

officials they wanted to see were nowhere to be seen. Inside the

building or outside. Let him speak! We took our demands to the council

and we expected a response from the Chief Executive of the council, who

has failed to turn up. Mustafa Al Mansour organised this protest. His

friend and her children are missing. He has a list of demands for the

council that include the commitment that those who lost their homes get

houses in the local area and funds are made immediately available and

the names of those in Grenfell Tower are released. Tonight after a

harrowing three days, these protesters are falling taking -- are

Vowing to You will not be able to see -- you

will be able to see people walking on this road. The demonstration

which has been going on at the steps of the council is now trying to

close. People are walking to Kensington High Street carry on the

process. We have seen some passionate scenes, people attempting

to break into the town hall. After that it was a different atmosphere,

almost like the community were speaking with one voice, largely

because there was only one megaphone and members of the crowd were taking

the loudspeaker, having their say, to rapturous cheers and applause.

Time and again, the subject that came up was what people here

perceived to be the faceless nature of the council. Earlier I spoke to

Mustafa Al Mansour, one of the people he helped organise the

protest. My sister's close friend,

Rania Ibrham, the lady who was on the 23rd floor with two

children, she perished while asking for help and no help

could reach her. And so people are here

today to demand that The general public

have done quite a lot. Do you feel the council

have done nothing today? The council have not done

anything publicly to date. They have not made any public

commitment as to how much funds they are going to allocate

to compensate the victims The council have not made

a firm public commitment on where they will rehouse victims

of this disaster. There are a lot of people here,

I think probably thousands now, demanding the council come

out and make a formal No member of the council

has come out till now, they have provided us a written

statement by Martin Fitzpatrick, the head of communications

of the council, which does not answer the exact

demands of the public. You can hear the passion and the

arguments and the word justice coming up time and again by many

people here. In fairness to the council, they released a statement

recently, bullet points, in which they outlined what they would do. A

written commitment on an immediate rehousing of the victims of Grenfell

Tower, immediate release of funds to cover the losses and welfare of

victims. The community had been gathering clothes and food, and

nobody from the council appears to have been able to direct that two

were it needed to go. The council appears to address that here. And an

investigation on the recent ?10 million refurbishment, a commitment

there. The release of a full list of the victims who have tragically died

in this disaster. And an investigation into all other similar

buildings in the borough to identify risks that may be there. But you can

probably hear in the background, people still shouting, people still

passionate about what has happened, there is anger on the streets but

there is also a sense that there will be answers because the

community demands it. Thank you for that. That is not the

only protest the supplement. There is another one in Westminster.

That's where we can join Ayshea Buksh who can tell us more.

This protest was organised through Facebook and social media and

hundreds of people have turned up. It gathered outside the Home Office

but we are now walking towards Westminster. Many different groups

from across London, protest groups, residents groups, and their main

concern is the safety of residents of tower blocks, and justice for the

Grenfell Tower residents. I am joined by a couple of people from

South Kilburn. Why did you want to protest this evening outside a

government department? It has been such a shock for us. We live in

tower blocks and we want to come here and get justice for the people

from Grenfell Tower. How do you define justice? Companies like

Rydon, a profit of 7 million, they need to go to court, someone needs

to go to prison for corporate manslaughter. Regeneration must stop

being costed at the lowest tender. They have to start looking at safety

for all residents. The Prime Minister has ordered a full public

inquiry. I will come to you now, sir. Does that satisfy some of the

demands expressed this evening? Well, to be honest, I have no faith

in the government currently as it sounds and they have said they spent

10 million on refurbishing that building the burnt down, it doesn't

look like they spent 10 million on that at all, I think people need to

see receipts and proof of spending that money. As people who have been

involved yourself, I'm sure this will have resonance with you. Thank

you for joining us. Just going to move up the way because it appears

riot police are coming. The government says every family will be

rehoused. A lot of anger being voiced here on the streets of

Westminster tonight. This afternoon the government

responded to events. A little earlier, our reporter

Wendy Hurrell spoke to the Minister for London, Greg Hands,

and started by asking him why -- if he would feel comfortable for

his family to be living in a tower block like Grenfell Tower.

This is a developing situation and my sympathies go out to all of those

affected, and praise for the armies in effort of the emergency services,

fire brigade in particular. The Prime Minister has been to the site

today to announce a further set of packages in terms of funding and

other measures to try to find what happened here, and also to provide

relief to those affected. Would you feel safe in one of those buildings?

Hundreds of Londoners are in them this evening watching this. I live

very close to a set of tower blocks myself but the most important thing

we have to do is get to the bottom of this tragedy. We must find out

what happened. There is an ongoing police led investigation as we

speak. Police, fire and health and safety. We hope they will report in

the coming days as to what the cause of the tragedy is. There is a huge

community effort, volunteers everywhere, and they say they feel

very let down by central government and the response has been woeful. I

am much that is right. I represent Chelsea, part of the same borough. I

am impressed by the incredible public response to the tragedy both

in terms of donations and volunteers. People should check out

online first, the latest situation on what goods and donations are

needed to stop there is a lot of anger. How concerned are you about

the situation on the ground? The important thing is not to get in the

way of the emergency services, in terms of the investigation, for key

government and council officers to make sure people are rehoused. Those

who have been made homeless will be re-housed within three weeks in

Kensington, Chelsea or neighbouring boroughs. What do you say to the

people who are so angry? I understand the anger and concern and

the need to have answers. Greg Hands there,

speaking to Wendy Hurrell. Let's explore some of the safety

concerns. Endless questions and few answers,

that anger is palpable, but the questions have been raised for five

years in online blogs. Posts highlighted what they claim was a

general failure to inspect and maintain fire safety clement, and

they blame on ongoing culture of negligence and say there is damning

evidence of the poor safety record. One blog concludes it is a

terrifying thought but only a catastrophic event will expose the

ineptitude and incompetence. We were told that the cladding in these

buildings are totally safe. Nigel lives in an identical tower block

and he has raised similar concerns on behalf of residents. There have

been a number of fires in previous years before the work started. This

is a fire door. 165 flats in one of these buildings. There is a degree

of overcrowding. Residents with an expanding family have had to utilise

the broom cupboard to make it into a makeshift bedroom. There was a

period of time, we don't know how long, that these were totally

unusable because he is had broken into the building, due to low

security, and stole all of the metal. Monica lives on the 19th

floor and watched as the fire took hold. I can't sleep at night. I just

think if anything happens nobody will come to save us. Residents

there said they were raising concerns and you have been doing the

same. Do you feel like they listen to you? No. There is so much

contradiction and stop on hearing the fire alarm, leave the building

by... There is no fire alarm. Attack fire using appliances provided. I

have never seen the appliances. Firefighters have always worked with

communities to clarify fire safety but the union says it has been

scaled back. There is a misapprehension about firefighter

work, it is not just putting out fires, there is a lot of fire safety

work, prevention work, teaching people about fires in the community,

doing inspections, home safety visits, and there is no doubt that

the huge cuts visited upon the Fire Service, particularly in London,

over the last ten years, have had an impact. There is suspicion that a

public inquiry controlled by the government may not truly get to the

bottom of what happened. We have to be very concerned as to why we are

going down a public inquiry route when we have hundreds of-year-old

system in place of an inquest with a High Court judge appointed as

coroner dealing with it openly and transparently. It is important

people are not left waiting for two or three or four years before they

have answers. We need answers now and I am asking for an interim

response to the inquiry this summer and to make sure local residents and

families have copper representation and they are given legal

representation. If there is any organisation or individual

responsible they should be prosecuted. Theresa May visited the

site earlier but left quickly as a crowd descended, shouting coward and

shame on you. I am joined by the newly elected MP.

A lot of people just want information. It changes day by day.

The first day they wanted food and rest and a bit of love and on the

second day it sunk in when we started hearing about fatalities.

People were worried about their loved ones. You say they want

information. What information can you give them? There is a dearth of

information. Yes, and I think the issue lies squarely with the council

who clearly have no emergency planning system at all. I find it

appalling. Anything can happen at any time these days. Where is the

emergency planning? We must have a proper emergency relief team here,

coordinating. We have an incredible amount of volunteers, food, drink,

everything else, and nobody knows what to do with it. The scale of the

operation is massive. It is a lot to ask a council to predict something

of this scale. All councils should have some kind of emergency planning

and clearly they do not. The council have announced they're going to make

certain key priorities, immediately rehouse some of the residents,

providing emergency funding, they are doing something. We know about

this issue about where they're to be allocated, moved to, and the word is

local, and in housing terms local can mean London and that could

anywhere. It could be two hours away from their homes. They have not

committed to keeping them in the borough or a neighbouring borough,

which is what people want. They need to be together. These people are

traumatised. We have seen people taking out frustration at the town

hall. What is your message to the people feeling frustrated and taking

out their anger? You are absolutely right to be angry. Violence is never

an answer. Turn their anger into real change and I will be with them

all the time, every day talking to them trying to find out what is

wrong. I have tried to contact the council and they're not even

responding to their MP. I find that very disturbing. I am doing what I

can with a small team. I cannot coordinate anything of this scale.

People are still searching for missing loved ones.

Our reporter Chris Slegg has spent the day with residents who survived

the fire but are still looking for missing loved ones.

The faces of some of the Grenfell Tower missing.

Salah's brother-in-law Abdel, his wife Fozia, and their three

They don't say, yes, we got them. I am so hopeful. He escaped from his

home on the ninth floor. Along with his wife and two children. I wake up

about two in the morning and I smelt strong plastic burning. I thought

maybe something was in the cooker so I went to the kitchen and turned the

light on and I saw flames outside the window in the kitchen. I live on

the ninth floor. I thought something was wrong. I opened the kitchen

window and there were flames and smoke so I closed it and I woke up

my wife and children and said we had to get out. From the safety of the

pavement, the phone and Abdelaziz. He was waving from his window. He

said he couldn't get out because they told him to stay inside because

it was safer. In the end, my son talked to his son and told them he

needed to get out. He said they were trapped and there was too much

smoke. Have you been given enough help in your search? No, we have not

had a straight answer. We called their helpline. We don't know

they're dead or in hospital. The agonising wait for news goes on.

Of course, we have asked for an interview from Kensington and

Chelsea town hall. Initially we were told we would have a leader of the

council live on our programme. This afternoon they have pulled out of

that interview so it is with regret that we cannot bring you that

interview but we hope somebody will be available to speak to us this

evening in our 10:30pm programme. Now, much has been said

about the incredible response from the emergency services

to this tragic event. Both at this fire and the London

terrorist attack. Those who helped rescue and treat

the victims have today been honoured in a special service at Southwark

Cathedral. Arriving today at Southwark

Cathedral, those at the front line The shadows of the oldest cathedral

church building in London stretching out over Borough Market,

the scene of mindless bloodshed It was here earlier in the week

those who answered emergency calls on that Saturday night stood

in silence, trying to make Lana treated the wounded

and was heartened by It is lovely to see the people being

able to get back into the market From what happened, you know,

awful, awful things. They have banded together

and they're back and fighting, Many of these emergency service

staff were at the service today Modest-to-a-fault Lana said

she was giving thanks for the public's help

in the worst of circumstances. A lot of support

between the services. They worked incredibly

well together. The public themselves were fantastic

in helping each other and keeping themselves safe and helping those

that were injured. Restaurant owner Jack Appleby

has a lot to thank He came face-to-face

with the terrorists but survived. Fortunately we were OK

but there were many people here affected and we are some

of the lucky ones. This Imam was here to offer his

support for anyone who had suffered. Atrocities have been

committed by people so as an imam I thought

it was my responsibility to come to speak to the people and let them

know we stand with them All faiths came together

at the cathedral, a chance for the bravest among us to be given

a heartfelt thank you in the most And the number for those

still missing loved ones, who have not yet been contacted

by the police, is 0800 0961 233. That Alsop lies to people who may

have been involved in this fire and have not been able to get in touch

with their families. A slightly fresher feel and it has

resulted in a little more cloud than in the last couple of days. More

than we are going to see the weekend. This is set to build

through the weekend. We could see temperatures peaking on Monday at

32, the mid to high 80s in Fahrenheit. It gets a little fresher

from Tuesday onwards. It is courtesy of high-pressure right across the

country, not just the south-east corner. Through the night tonight

you will notice it is good to be quite a warm night. Uncomfortable

for sleeping and it will turn increasingly to mid through the

weekend. Overnight lows of 16-17. Restart tomorrow on a warm zero with

hardly a cloud in the sky and the light westerly breeze. The

temperatures will rocket in the afternoon. They could peak in the

high 20s in the middle of the afternoon. UV levels are very high

so if you are outside for any time it is worth bearing that in mind. It

turn increasingly humid. An uncomfortable night for sleeping

Saturday into Sunday morning. High-pressure staying with us, not

moving very far very fast. Not much change in our story and we continue

to drag warm and moist air from the as orders... Temperatures will peak

at around 30 degrees. It is the start of the Queens tennis

tournament as well. It is dry and settled in getting a bit fresher by

Tuesday. The demonstration we saw earlier

taking place in Westminster is now making its way to Whitehall.

All week people have travelled from all over the capital

to show their support and solidarity with those who've lost loved ones.

A wall close to Grenfell Tower has been daubed with

We leave you tonight with some of the words left for those who've

From all of us here, good night. All I could think was to save reversals

to rest in peace -- forever souls. They will never be forgotten. There

are so many messages and pictures and what people are leaving, you are

not sure what to do apart from saying may they rest in peace. I was

lighting candles for friends who lived in the flat and they haven't

found them yet. I just have to put some flowers down and say they're

not going to be forgotten. A simple message, we will never forget. This

should not happen in England in 2017, one of the richest boroughs

not just in the country but in the world. The way everyone has come

together and all the messages are so touching. It should not have

happened and it just makes my heart so sad, I had to come down and leave

some flowers. Everyone is running around and showing love and that is

what I wrote on the board, may love Sir Francis did not explicitly offer

me the position of magistrate. But I can see myself

dispensing justice.