GRENFELL Tower bereaved and survivors expressed anger at Labour Deputy Prime Minister Angela Raynor’s announcement yesterday that the building is to be demolished starting in June, the 8th anniversary of the 14th June 2017 fire.
Moyra Samuels, Grenfell resident, said: ‘It was the biggest post-war deaths in a residential building, it caused the highest level of mental health needs in Europe and trauma doesn’t have a sell-by date.
‘But most importantly, we’ve had no direct journey to justice. No-one’s been held accountable and I think that is a very big stain on the establishment, but also a very big wound on the community.’
She added: ‘For the building to come down to ground level, quite rightly they argue, with no criminal convictions in sight, with the case only coming to court at the end of 2026, they quite rightly, like all of us, are concerned that when the building comes down, will the questions of accountability and justice be forgotten?’
Nabil Choucair, who lost six family members in the fire, said: ‘It is very disappointing and upsetting. A lot of people were not expecting it. There hasn’t been a prosecution.’
He continued: ‘It mustn’t be taken down because people still need to be prosecuted. It is another way of allowing them get away with murder without being prosecuted and also to try and move on.
‘This is very worrying. The inquiry was a load of rubbish. The families have been really let down in every way. The building should stay up because the truth is within the building and as soon as they covered it up they hid the truth.
‘It tells you the truth. 72 beautiful innocent people should never have died. It was due to neglect, it was as if it was purposely done to murder our families and they should never have died.’
‘To cover it up is not showing the truth of what happened.’
He added: ‘It is the worst catastrophe that ever happened and we’ve been let down so much. We’ve been fighting continuously since the day after the fire to make changes so that people don’t have to go through what we’ve been through and to suffer, because there’s still cladding on other buildings.’
Rayner said the demolition is expected to take around two years and claimed it will be done ‘sensitively’.
No charges in relation to the fire will be announced until late 2026, the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have said. Grenfell United, which represents some bereaved families and survivors, said no-one at the meeting with Rayner supported the plan, and that ignoring their wishes was ‘disgraceful and unforgivable’.