Grenfell Tower families host platinum jubilee street party with empty places for victims

Grenfell Tower survivors and the families of victims have held a platinum jubilee "street party", with places laid out for those who died in the west London tower block blaze five years ago.

The event was hosted by the Justice4Grenfell group on Monday, as Britain gets ready to mark the Queen Elizabeth II's 70 years on the throne.

Each of the 72 places at the street party, which took place underneath a flyover motorway, was set with a name card, along with napkins and cups in the green colours of the Justice4Grenfell campaign.

Campaigners have spoken of their “respect” for the queen’s response to the disaster ahead of her platinum jubilee this week.

Those attending reflected on the fact the queen and Prince William had visited relief efforts at the Westway Sports Centre in North Kensington, just hours after the fire had been put out.

But others also criticised the government’s lack of “political will” to achieve justice for the victims.

Emma Louise O’Connor, who escaped when the tower caught fire on June 14, 2017, said: “The jubilee celebrations being so close to the five-year anniversary, it’s kind of hard to be able to get involved with celebrating, even though I have plenty of respect for the queen.

“She came down to visit Westway, which was the right thing to do … this happened in her borough.”

Ms O’Connor, who lived on the 20th floor of the tower and was awoken by sirens, said the fire service had “definitely” been made scapegoats for the tragedy.

Yvette Williams, a Justice4Grenfell campaigner, said: “The queen had visited us shortly after the fire and was really embraced by the community.

“There are street celebrations that are going on this week and over the weekend, however there’s a heaviness to it because we lost 72 people … under the most horrific circumstances.”

Ms Williams said the British government should be legally obliged to follow the recommendations of the Grenfell Inquiry and prosecute those responsible.

“If any of us had started that fire, we would have been sitting on remand in one of the HMPs [Her Majesty's Prisons] somewhere in the country,” she said.

“The government needs to act on those findings from the inquiry.

“Is there a political will? No, there isn’t a political will. But it’s only political will that will drive things through.”

The Grenfell inquiry found that the tower’s cladding was a key factor in the fire’s rapid spread.

Nabil Choucair, who lost his mother, sister, brother-in-law, and three nieces in the inferno, said his family is “far from getting justice”.

He said: “The laws need updating, the legislation needs amending, regulations need to be updated as well.

“It’s just fighting to make Britain safer so this never ever happens again”.

Six spaces were laid out for the Choucair family in the middle of the table, although Mr Choucair said he could not bring himself to go and see them.

“I don’t want to be drained too much because I feel very much when I see and hear and picture their names.

“I really do feel it.”