by WORLD SOCIALIST WEB SITE REPORTERS
Gary and his son
“The rich want families with low income out”
Residents near the burnt-out Grenfell Tower in Kensington, London, spoke to the World Socialist Web Site reporters about the June 14 inferno that took the lives of at least 79 people and likely many more.
The public outcry over the horrific blaze has provoked the testing of some 600 tower blocks around the country, which have cladding like the external siding on the Grenfell Tower. The combustible insulation and cladding was a central factor in the spread of a small fire in one Grenfell apartment into a conflagration that engulfed the entire 24-storey structure within minutes.
By Tuesday evening, officials acknowledged that 95 tower blocks in 32 local authorities have failed fire safety tests due to combustible cladding. This is a 100 percent failure rate, with 500 tower blocks still to be tested.
Marie has lived in Kensington for 15 years. Marie’s best friend and her daughter lost their lives in the Grenfell fire.
She said, “Even animals you can’t treat the way they treated people here. They put up cheap cladding and exposed the gas pipes. My son goes to this school [adjacent to Grenfell Tower]. What if it had happened in the daytime? I worked in the [Grenfell] building in the daytime—my children would have been without a mum now. Can you imagine what I feel inside me now? By nature, I’m a strong person, but this is very difficult.”
Asked what she thought about the role of the local council and government in the events, she said, “They know that they are responsible. When you live in a council property, you can’t change anything.”
Many Grenfell residents are being forced to live in temporary accommodation such as hotels since the fire, with reports that some are being forced to sleep in cars and parks. Asked about this, Marie said, “The council should have been more involved, they should have been giving people support. They’re hiding from people. They know what they’re doing, and that’s what is making people more upset. They should have had an office in the town hall, showing people more support.
“They said they want to calm [angry] people down. We’ve probably got 300 people dead. The council didn’t do enough. When you ask them to come and do something they don’t listen because all they’re interested in is saving money—that way they get bigger bonuses. It’s greed. They are going to have to pay it back in compensation now. But you can give me a million pounds and it’s not going to bring my friend and her daughter back. They’re gone forever.”
Marie concluded, “When people raise their voice, they [the council] don’t like it. They don’t want to hear the truth. You need to get a mass of people working together with the same ideas as you.”
Mel is a chef and Gary a taxi driver. The family were previously residents in the Royal Kensington and Chelsea Borough and were visiting the area with their son.
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