Six arrested for video mocking tower fire

Group burned model of Grenfell Tower while making crude remarks

LONDON— London police said Tuesday that they have arrested six men over a video that showed a cardboard model of Grenfell Tower being burned on a bonfire — an act condemned by bereaved families and survivors of the apartment-block blaze that killed 72.

The Metropolitan Police force said five men turned themselves in at a police station late Monday and were arrested on suspicion of a public order offence after allegedly creating a copy of the fire-ravaged west London public housing tower. A sixth man handed himself in to police on Tuesday.

The men, who range in age from19 to 55, were being held in custody Tuesday, but had not been charged.

The group, who were filmed burning a cardboard cut-out of Grenfell Tower, can be heard jeering “that’s what happens when they don’t pay their rent,” as the effigy goes up in flames.

The video, which is believed to have been recorded and shared on a messaging app, quickly went viral on Twitter. By Monday evening, the video was trending in Britain, with thousands expressing shock and disbelief at the insensitivity of the group in the recording.

The Grenfell Tower tragedy was the deadliest fire in modern British history in June 2017.