‘NOTHING is going to happen to it until we say so,’ Karim Musilly from Genfell United said defiantly yesterday, responding to reports that the Tory government will announce the demolition of the Grenfell Tower.
Tory Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick, said that he has been told that the building poses a risk to the local community including the Kensington Aldridge Academy in west London, a secondary school at the foot of the tower.
Grenfell United said it was ‘shocked’ by the development ‘given the promise by the government that no decision would be made on the future of the tower without full consultation with the bereaved and survivors’.
Their statement added: ‘The government has engaged with fewer than 10 of the bereaved and survivors on this matter to date. How can the tower be demolished before the legal process concludes, when no judge in the land can confirm it won’t hinder future criminal prosecutions? Justice is important to us all and anything that may prevent justice must not be an option.
‘Many of the Grenfell community accept the removal of the tower will always be a case of when, not if, but the timeline needs to be decided by the bereaved, survivors and community, not the government – who have done nothing to make the changes needed to prevent it happening again.’
Hisam Choucair, who lost six members of his family in the fire, said: ‘A tragedy has taken place that must never be forgotten at this location.
‘If they take it down, they will obliterate that memory and they would be putting people through another unimaginable trauma. The ashes of our loved ones are in the fabric of that building.’
After outrage from the Grenfell community yesterday the Tory government backpeddled, confirming that nothing will happen before the fifth anniversary of the blaze in June 2022.
Following the government’s retraction Choucair added: ‘I am disgusted and very disappointed. We were never consulted properly and the tower stays up until we get proper justice. There is still the same cladding on many buildings. The cladding must be pulled down now. Does life not matter? Do you really want another Grenfell?’
