Grenfell Fire forum discusses upcoming six month anniversary
By
our reporter
12 December 2017
The Grenfell Fire Forum held at the Maxilla Social Club in North Kensington took place two days prior to two days of procedural hearings beginning Monday of the official inquiry under Sir Martin Moore-Bick.
Attending were local-residents as well as workers from Camden, Westminster and other London boroughs.
World Socialist Web Site British editor Robert Stevens explained that with the six-month anniversary of the fire on December 14, the official final death toll is 71 people, and over 70 others injured.
This number is disputed but, as Stevens explained, “whether it is the Metropolitan Police’s fatality figure or a larger figure, the Socialist Equality Party has described the fire as ‘social murder.’ Grenfell residents were placed in a situation by the authorities where the terrible consequences of what could happen to them were known.”
Stevens asked, “Six months on what has happened to the survivors and their families? Out of the 208 households that needed rehousing after the fire, 118 will still be in emergency accommodation or with friends over the Christmas period. These include 29 families with children. Grenfell United, which represents the families, said a further 48 households have accepted permanent housing offers but have not yet moved in and are currently still in temporary homes. So in total 166 households will still be in temporary housing at Christmas.”
The same hostility of the ruling elite to the needs of the population that led to the fire has determined their response ever since.
Kensington and Chelsea Council—in the face of mounting public anger—said all would be housed within three weeks. Then they said it would be by Christmas and now it…