Grief and rage mark second anniversary of Britain’s deadly Grenfell Tower fire
- Dozens of white doves were released and hymns were sung during emotional ceremonies
- Public inquiry hearings into tragedy that claimed 72 lives have been delayed until end of this year at the earliest
Sabah Yousef Abdullah was among scores of bereaved and survivors who gathered on Friday morning at St Helen’s church close to Grenfell Tower to light candles, pray and remember the 72 people who died in the disaster two years ago.
“I don’t know why I am alive if it is just to suffer for this,” the 72-year old widower said as he recalled the two years since his wife, Khadija Khalloufi, died in the fire. “Once you feel something like this, it is stuck in you and no one can help. They might help you forget for a few hours, but once you are in bed you find you can’t sleep. I lost part of me.”
Dozens of white doves were released and hymns were sung during emotional ceremonies attended by British housing secretary James Brokenshire and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The archbishop of York sent a message that recognised how the last two years had seen a “flow of pain and grief … so many lives lost, so many agonising memories”. But the event was marked by frustration and anger at the slow pace of justice.
Council housing blocks around the church were adorned with green scarves and the nave was packed with people wearing the same colour, holding pictures of loved ones they lost and carrying white roses to lay later at the base of the tower.