Anger erupts in London

Reports: Materials used to renovate high-rise could have fueled inferno

LONDON — Grief turned to outrage Friday over a deadly high-rise tower fire in London amid reports that materials used in the building’s renovation could have fueled the inferno that left dozens dead and missing as it decimated the public housing block.

Engineering experts say outside insulation panels installed on the 24-story Grenfell Tower may have helped the fire spread rapidly from one floor to the next. The Guardian newspaper reported Friday that contractors installed a cheaper, less flameresistant type of paneling in the renovation that ended in May 2016.

Tensions were high Friday two days after the overnight fire gutted the huge housing block, killing at least 30 people and leaving dozens missing and hundreds homeless.

Scuffles broke out near the Kensington and Chelsea town hall offices as demonstrators chanting “We want justice!” surged toward the doors.

London has a chronic housing shortage, and those left homeless by the fire — already angry over what they see as government inequity and incompetence — fear being forced out of the city.

The Grenfell Tower housed about 600 people in 120 apartments. Some 70 people are still missing after the fire.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said people were frustrated by the lack of information about the missing and the dead, as well as a lack of coordination between support services. Residents who survived the tower blaze lost everything and have no idea where they are going to live or how they will get back on their feet.