PROTESTERS TARGET DOWNING ST
Crowd chanting ‘blood on your hands’ forced back Fights break out as town hall comes under siege
ANGRY Grenfell Tower protesters tried to march on Downing Street last night, chanting ‘Justice for Grenfell’, ‘May must go’ and ‘blood on your hands’.
When police turned them back, they staged a sitdown demonstration at Oxford Circus, closing roads in rush hour before massing outside the BBC’s Broadcasting House and holding a minute’s silence.
It came as fights broke out when hundreds of protesters stormed the headquarters of the council that built the tragic tower block.
More than 500 demonstrators forced their way into Kensington Town Hall in West London and refused to leave.
Some jumped on cars and others attacked TV cameramen and press photographers on the street. At one point about 40 people took part in a mass brawl. One man who stormed the building was wearing a Momentum T-shirt, the political group that supports Jeremy Corbyn.
Police were last night bracing themselves for a summer of disorder as a group called Movement For Justice said it was planning a ‘Day of Rage’ during the Queen’s Speech in Parliament next Wednesday.
Their leaflet said: ‘Walk out of school, call in sick, strike – meet (at) Shepherd’s Bush to march on Parliament. What will likely be over 100 workingclass and poor people were murdered by this rotten capitalist system. Class war – no justice, no peace.’
Film-maker Ishmahil Blagrove stoked up the feelings of dissent during an interview on BBC Radio 2. He said: ‘I’m already hearing messages of people mobilising, of police intercepting messages on Facebook. We saw what could happen in this country in 2011, over the shooting of Mark Duggan. There are real issues in the underbelly of society that frustrate people. Sometimes all it takes is a spark.’
Local councillor Eartha Pond, 33, added: ‘If the council don’t step up to the plate there will be unrest in the streets – it’s that serious. Noone from the council has been down here. It’s an appalling lack of response.’
The number of protesters in West London continued to swell last night as news of the town hall being stormed spread across social media. Another mob protested outside the St Clements church near the scene of the tragedy, where Prime Minister Theresa May was visiting victims.
Kensington Town Hall is the headquarters of Kensington and Chelsea Council which is accused of presiding over a litany of appalling blunders which led to the inferno.
Demonstrators desperate for details about missing friends and family chanted: ‘We want answers. We want justice.’
The protesters were incited by a series of incendiary speeches. They shouted ‘mur- derers’ and ‘shame on you’ as rap music blasted out from a huge speaker. Some called for council bosses to be prosecuted for corporate manslaughter. Council staff were ushered out of the building by police who largely kept their distance from the protesters.
At the Town Hall, protest organiser Mustafa Almansour read out a list of demands.
Protesters want a full list of who has died and who is missing. They also want funding to rehome the survivors in the borough, a criminal investigation to be launched, a commitment to bring those responsible to justice and a surveys to
‘Bring down the Government’ ‘Families deserve truth and justice’
be carried out on similar buildings in London. Mr Almansour said: ‘ We will stay here until we get a response from the leader of the council.’
Protester Caroline Hill, 39, of Brixton, south London, carried a placard with ‘Justice For Grenfell’ written in red letters. ‘ The authorities are lining their pockets and supporting profit over people,’ she said.
‘This incident has made people want to stand up for their community. There needs to be criminal proceedings and a review of the refurbishment. The victims’ families deserve the truth and justice.’ Hundreds more were expected to congregate outside the Department for Communities and Local Government office in Westminster last night. Almost 3,000 registered their intention to attend the rally on a Facebook page called ‘Justice for Grenfell’.