SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
'We Want Justice': Prime Minister Forced to Flee as Londoners Protest Deadly Fire
"People should be held to account," said Labour MP David Lammy
Jun 16, 2017
In the wake of the deadly fire that devastated residents of London's Grenfell Tower--a fire believed to have been caused in part by government neglect and design flaws stemming from an effort to make the building look nicer to appease the wealthy--hundreds took to the streets on Friday to demand swift action from the British government.
Chants of "We want justice!" rang out as Londoners made their way into Kensington town hall, where they demanded answers from those responsible for ensuring the maintenance of building safety standards.
Prime Minister Theresa May was close to the scene, but she soon had to be "rushed away under heavy police guard" as protestors chanted "May must go!" and "Shame on you!" Reuters reported.
People have thus far been "unsatisfied by the [government's] response," said Mustafa Almansur, who organized the day of mass action after losing a friend in Wednesday's fire. Protesters entered the town hall building to "find the executives and make them answer our questions," he added.
In a speech outside Kensington town hall, Almansur explained why the protests were necessary:
The reason for the protest is that so far in the last three days the general public have done everything from raising money to actually going out there on the streets, helping people, finding the victims of the tragedy, going to the community centres, the churches and the mosques with donations and in cash.
To this day the council has failed to do anything in public, they have not made a public statement or any public comment. The statement they made today was just a fluffy statement--open-ended promises with no concrete numbers of what they are going to be able to do for the people.
Commentators and British MPs have highlighted austerity and vast inequities between rich and poor as possible causes of the Grenfell fire, as Common Dreams has reported.
Labour MP David Lammy added to these critiques on Thursday, calling the fire "corporate manslaughter."
"They haven't got easy fire escapes, they've got no sprinklers, it's totally, totally unacceptable in Britain that this is allowed to happen and people lose their lives in this way," Lammy added, describing buildings throughout London. "People should be held to account."
Local residents sought to make their voices heard on Friday, demanding both accountability and substantial change. Moyra Samuels, a teacher from Kensington, told the Guardian that the protests are an expression of "the anger people are feeling."
"They have been so ground down by years of Tory councils," she said, "this anger had to be channeled somewhere."
Watch scenes from the protests below:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
In the wake of the deadly fire that devastated residents of London's Grenfell Tower--a fire believed to have been caused in part by government neglect and design flaws stemming from an effort to make the building look nicer to appease the wealthy--hundreds took to the streets on Friday to demand swift action from the British government.
Chants of "We want justice!" rang out as Londoners made their way into Kensington town hall, where they demanded answers from those responsible for ensuring the maintenance of building safety standards.
Prime Minister Theresa May was close to the scene, but she soon had to be "rushed away under heavy police guard" as protestors chanted "May must go!" and "Shame on you!" Reuters reported.
People have thus far been "unsatisfied by the [government's] response," said Mustafa Almansur, who organized the day of mass action after losing a friend in Wednesday's fire. Protesters entered the town hall building to "find the executives and make them answer our questions," he added.
In a speech outside Kensington town hall, Almansur explained why the protests were necessary:
The reason for the protest is that so far in the last three days the general public have done everything from raising money to actually going out there on the streets, helping people, finding the victims of the tragedy, going to the community centres, the churches and the mosques with donations and in cash.
To this day the council has failed to do anything in public, they have not made a public statement or any public comment. The statement they made today was just a fluffy statement--open-ended promises with no concrete numbers of what they are going to be able to do for the people.
Commentators and British MPs have highlighted austerity and vast inequities between rich and poor as possible causes of the Grenfell fire, as Common Dreams has reported.
Labour MP David Lammy added to these critiques on Thursday, calling the fire "corporate manslaughter."
"They haven't got easy fire escapes, they've got no sprinklers, it's totally, totally unacceptable in Britain that this is allowed to happen and people lose their lives in this way," Lammy added, describing buildings throughout London. "People should be held to account."
Local residents sought to make their voices heard on Friday, demanding both accountability and substantial change. Moyra Samuels, a teacher from Kensington, told the Guardian that the protests are an expression of "the anger people are feeling."
"They have been so ground down by years of Tory councils," she said, "this anger had to be channeled somewhere."
Watch scenes from the protests below:
In the wake of the deadly fire that devastated residents of London's Grenfell Tower--a fire believed to have been caused in part by government neglect and design flaws stemming from an effort to make the building look nicer to appease the wealthy--hundreds took to the streets on Friday to demand swift action from the British government.
Chants of "We want justice!" rang out as Londoners made their way into Kensington town hall, where they demanded answers from those responsible for ensuring the maintenance of building safety standards.
Prime Minister Theresa May was close to the scene, but she soon had to be "rushed away under heavy police guard" as protestors chanted "May must go!" and "Shame on you!" Reuters reported.
People have thus far been "unsatisfied by the [government's] response," said Mustafa Almansur, who organized the day of mass action after losing a friend in Wednesday's fire. Protesters entered the town hall building to "find the executives and make them answer our questions," he added.
In a speech outside Kensington town hall, Almansur explained why the protests were necessary:
The reason for the protest is that so far in the last three days the general public have done everything from raising money to actually going out there on the streets, helping people, finding the victims of the tragedy, going to the community centres, the churches and the mosques with donations and in cash.
To this day the council has failed to do anything in public, they have not made a public statement or any public comment. The statement they made today was just a fluffy statement--open-ended promises with no concrete numbers of what they are going to be able to do for the people.
Commentators and British MPs have highlighted austerity and vast inequities between rich and poor as possible causes of the Grenfell fire, as Common Dreams has reported.
Labour MP David Lammy added to these critiques on Thursday, calling the fire "corporate manslaughter."
"They haven't got easy fire escapes, they've got no sprinklers, it's totally, totally unacceptable in Britain that this is allowed to happen and people lose their lives in this way," Lammy added, describing buildings throughout London. "People should be held to account."
Local residents sought to make their voices heard on Friday, demanding both accountability and substantial change. Moyra Samuels, a teacher from Kensington, told the Guardian that the protests are an expression of "the anger people are feeling."
"They have been so ground down by years of Tory councils," she said, "this anger had to be channeled somewhere."
Watch scenes from the protests below:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.