Tears and anger as St Paul’s weeps for victims
Royals and Prime Minister join families six months after horror of Grenfell, but council leader is absent
THE CHILDREN scattered green hearts from brown wicker baskets and remembered the tragedy that had made so many homeless
Then, with a poignancy that was almost unbearable, the St Paul’s choir struck up There’s A Place For Us from West Side Story.
Exactly six months after the fire at Grenfell Tower had claimed its 71 victims, families and survivors stood together in a moment of reflection.
St Paul’s lies less than seven miles from the council-owned tower block that had been consumed last summer. Noone at yesterday’s memorial service needed reminding of the contrast.
The Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry were among those paying their respects. Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn were there, too.
But the leader of the council whose block it was, was absent and, she acknowledged, unwanted. Even the Prime Minister entered through a side door, not the main entrance.
Harry comforted one bereaved woman as she broke down at the end of the service. He told 78-year-old Fatima Jafari that she must have been very proud of her daughter, who had read a poem during the ceremony.
Maria Jafari, 38, had lost her father in the fire. He was 82 and had a heart condition. Firefighters pulled him from the building but he died at the scene.
As Mrs Jafari began sobbing for her husband, the prince said to her interpreter: “Just tell her I am so incredibly sorry for her loss.”
The green floral hearts from the children stood as a symbol of reconciliation, but there was also no mistaking the anger that echoed around St Paul’s.
“We should never have been here today,” said Karim Mussilhy, the nephew of Hesham Rahman, one of the 71.
“Our friends, our families should never had died, but we’re all here together, remembering them.”
Mr Mussilhy, a member of Grenfell United, set up by survivors and bereaved families in the wake of the disaster, wore its symbolic green badge on his lapel.
“It feels like it’s been six hours,” he said. “That day stays embedded, so fresh in the mind – it’s hard to turn it off and turn it away. It’s just been awful, like a big abyss.”
Dr David Ison, Dean of St Paul’s, led the congregation in a minute’s silence, which the heavily-criticised council of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea observed separately at the Town Hall. Its leader, Elizabeth Campbell, said it was only right to “respect the wishes of those involved in the service”, by not attending.”
Despite the passage of half a year and the approach of Christmas, many of the survivors remain without a permanent home. Shahin Sadafi, who lost his home in the fire and has since been elected the chairman of Grenfell United, said the day had been “given us renewed hope and determination in our fight for justice and to rebuild our lives”.