Grenfell Tower, photo James Ivens

Grenfell Tower, photo James Ivens   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Hundreds of people attended the vigil for Grenfell, in west London to mark four weeks on from the terrible fire. Those attending mainly came from the local community and family and friends of those who have died or are missing.

While the overwhelming reason for people attending was to pay their respects, there is still anger about why the fire happened in the first place, that no-one has been charged criminally, that the Tory councillors are still in place and that the vast majority of residents have not been properly re-housed.

Socialist Party members attended the vigil with leaflets taking up these issues, arguing for: No cover-ups – jail the killers; for an independent, working class, community inquiry; take over empty property to re-house those made homeless; use the £300 million reserves of Kensington and Chelsea council to make all council homes safe and to maintain them in a good condition.

We also argue that there should be immediate elections. Local residents and workers need councillors who fight for them. Councillors not willing to do so should stand aside for candidates who are.

Our leaflets went down well with some coming back for more. The Socialist Party will continue to support the community around Grenfell in their struggle for justice and we will continue to help build the movement to remove this rotten Tory government and the capitalist system that caused this disaster.

Chris Newby

This version of this article was first posted on the Socialist Party website on 13 July 2017 and may vary slightly from the version subsequently printed in The Socialist.