TOWERING SHAME
PM admits weak blaze response
Faced with angry protesters calling for her ouster, British Prime Minister Theresa May admitted that support for victims of London’s high-rise inferno “was not good enough” — as the death toll nearly doubled Saturday to 58.
May met with 15 victims, volunteers and community leaders to discuss their demands Saturday afternoon, following an outpouring of anger over her lack of empathy in the wake of Wednesday’s catastrophic fire that swallowed Grenfell Tower, The Guardian reported.
“The response of the emergency services, NHS and the community has been heroic. But, frankly, the support on the ground for families who needed help or basic information in the initial hours after this appalling disaster was not good enough,” May said in statement after the meeting.
“I have heard the concerns and I have ordered immediate action across the board to help victims’ relatives and the survivors. People lost everything in the fire and were left in only the clothes they were wearing.”
As May met with victims Saturday, a crowd of 1,200 protesters amassed outside the gates of Downing Street calling her actions “cowardly,” her composure “cold like a fish” and demanding her departure.
May has been blasted for failing to meet with victims when she first visited the site of the fire on Thursday.
She rubbed more salt in Londoners’ wounds when she avoided questions about misreading the public’s mood on the BBC Friday.
The leader only responded by saying the blaze was “absolutely horrifying.”
One protester, retired security expert John Docherty, 72, said May’s actions after the Grenfell disaster are reprehensible. “She’s an absolute coward, completely out of touch with the public. If she had any integrity she would resign at once,” he told The Guardian.
Student Steven Hollick, 39, said May’s decision to initially avoid meeting fire victims was “quite disgusting.”
“The queen could manage to meet the victims . . . [May’s] decision confirms she’s a coward. She has come across as a fake person who has nothing to say to normal people,” he said.
May’s senior minister came to her defense, saying the outrage is “terribly unfair” and that she “has the same degree of sympathy and horror at these events that we all have,” Damian Green said on BBC Radio.
The prime minister announced Friday that $6.4 million was allocated to help displaced residents of the destroyed 24-floor building.
Meanwhile, the death toll climbed from 30 victims to 58 Saturday, with dozens still unaccounted for, said Police Commander Stuart Cundy.
Cundy announced it will take weeks or longer to recover and identify the corpses amid the rubble of the decimated publichousing block.
He urged any survivors who escaped from the building and have not come forward to make themselves known.
Forensics and pathology teams are working to identify the remains, the Sunday Times of London reported.
“Waiting to find out is agonizing for families and friends,” said Peter Vanezis, professor of forensic medical sciences at Barts and the London medical school. “The most important thing is to work quickly and to keep families involved.”