16/06/2017 London News

Coming up: We reveal new concerns over the safety of high-rises

from residents of a block identical to Grenfell.

But first, to the protests that began late this afternoon.

From where I am standing here in North Kensington, we can hear the

protests in the streets around us. After years of not feeling listened

to, the anger fuelled by this tragedy arrived at the door of the

local council. No one from the borough of Kensington and Chelsea

came out to speak, but outside, a man who lost family in the fire

spoke to the crowds. 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. A few hours later in Whitehall, another protest. This

time, they gathered outside the Government department accountable

for social housing, and then marched to Downing Street. Outside number

ten, I meet a nine-year-old schoolboy who asked his month ago on

a demonstration advertised on Facebook. They know a Colombian girl

who is still missing. Because I don't believe this is right. Would

you like it if you were in that building and all you could see was

dead bodies on the floor? You wouldn't think it was right, so

Theresa May's just ruined everything. It's not about the rich

and the poor, it's about, you know, we are all humans, and these people

died in less than half an hour. Firefighters are not getting paid

the right amount of money. It's just really sad, really sad. Local

campaigners from other parts of London were also there, out in

force. It's so sad, but we have to be angry now. We have to mourn, but

we have to be changing the whole rotten system. The demonstration

which started out in Whitehall has gone through central London, through

Trafalgar Square and we are now one Regent St. There are thousands of

people, children, social housing protesters, political protesters.

People are looking for justice for their friends, family and neighbours

who died. Many others are behind them. And the issues of better

social housing and accountability for those who preside over it have

also been brought to the fore. Now, let's explore some

of the safety concerns that Not just here in North Kensington,

but across London. The anger now is palpable,

but the concerns have been raised Posts by Grenfell residents have

highlighted what they claim was a general failure to inspect

and maintain fire safety equipment. They blame an ongoing

culture of negligence. They say there is damning evidence

of the poor safety record. "It's a truly terrifying thought,

but only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude

and incompetence." We've been told that the cladding

in these buildings are totally safe. Nigel lives in an

identical tower block. Over many years, he's raised similar

concerns on behalf of residents. There had been a number of fires

in the previous years We have 165 flats in one

of these buildings. There was a period of time,

we don't know how long, that these were totally unusable,

because thieves had broken into the building due to having very

little security and actually stole Hi.

Hello, hi. Monica lives on the 19th floor,

and watched as the fire took hold. I just think, if anything,

no-one will come to save us. You have been raising worries and

concerns, like your neighbours, do you feel that the authorities listen

to you? No. "On hearing the fire alarm,

leave the building by...route." "Attack fire if possible

using appliances provided." I've never seen any appliances -

there are no fire extinguishers. Firefighters have always

worked with communities to clarify fire safety,

but the union says I think there's a misapprehension

often about a firefighter's work, it's not just going to fires

and pointing a jet at the flame There's a lot of fire safety work,

a lot of prevention work, getting into the community,

teaching people about fires, doing inspections, doing

home fire safety visits, And there is no doubt that the huge

cuts that have been visited upon the Fire Service,

particularly in London over the last There's suspicion, too,

that a public inquiry closely controlled by the Government

might not truly get We have to be very concerned

as to why we're going down a public inquiry route,

when we have a hundreds of years system in place of an inquest,

which, with a High Court judge appointed as a coroner, can deal

with it openly and transparently. It's really important we're not left

waiting for two, three, What I'm asking is for an interim

response to the inquiry this summer. We need to make sure local

residents and families have proper representation,

and they're given We need to make sure that

if there is any individual organisation responsible,

they're criminally prosecuted. Theresa May visited the site this

evening, but left quickly after a crowd descended,

shouting, "Coward," There is much to do to win

back the trust of this That's all we've got time for here

in North Kensington. You can keep up-to-date on our website and on our

Facebook page. Time to wish you good night. I will leave you with Chris

Fawkes, who has the weather. It will be a warm night, with

temperatures falling no lower than 15 Celsius. Tomorrow, it becomes

very warm, temperatures reaching 29 Celsius in the centre of London.

Through the afternoon, that is 84 Fahrenheit. If anything, Sunday will

be hotter, temperatures hitting 30 Celsius in the centre of town,

making it the hottest day of the year so far. The warm weather stays

with us in the early part of next week, temperatures reaching 32

Celsius also on week, temperatures reaching 32

Celsius also on Monday. The best of the sunshine today was

across England and Wales. We still have this feed of cloud into the

north-west, and that was thick enough for some drizzle and poor

visibility across the coast. Chingford finished the day with

decent sunshine. That will stay with most of us for the weekend, and it

will turn increasingly warm. It will be hot for some, and increasingly

humid as well. Certainly worth bearing in mind. The reason why is a

south-westerly wind dragging up this warm air from the Azores.

Temperatures in Spain could be in the mid-40s, the mid-30s in France,

and