People are furious that UK Prime Minister Theresa May visited the site of the Grenfell Tower – where at least 17 people lost their lives in the blaze – but reportedly didn’t meet with any of the survivors, local residents or volunteer workers.
She visited the site of the blaze on Thursday, congratulating emergency services on their incredible efforts.
But she reportedly refused to meet with any of the survivors and blocked media access, and people are absolutely furious.
Appalling that Theresa May went to Grenfell Tower and didn’t meet the residents. It’s just appalling.
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) June 15, 2017
Theresa May just visited #GrenfellTower but left after refusing to meet any residents. Appalling.
— Liam O’Hare (@Liam_O_Hare) June 15, 2017
This afternoon Theresa May is making time to meet with the DUP. She didn’t have time for the residents of #GrenfellTower though. Disgusted.
— Rachael (@Rachael_Swindon) June 15, 2017
Feeling genuinely angry that Theresa May would go to the scene of a disaster like Grenfell and choose not to speak to residents.
— Jonn Elledge (@JonnElledge) June 15, 2017
The incident is being compared to George W. Bush‘s disastrous visit in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, or of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher‘s equally maligned visit to the site of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, in which 95 Liverpool supporters were crushed to death in the FA Cup semi-final.
One Grenfell Tower resident reportedly told Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who visited a short time afterwards, that May “was shit”, and that “she didn’t speak to any of us.”
Distraught woman resident tells Jeremy Corbyn: “Theresa May was here but she didn’t speak to any of us. She was s**t.”
— Andy Lines (@andylines) June 15, 2017
Someone has just scrawled this on a wall near Grenfell Tower. pic.twitter.com/QP3g9AwpXQ
— Andy Lines (@andylines) June 15, 2017
Corbyn was pictured hugging a woman clutching posters seeking a 12-year-old girl missing since the fire. She was believed to have been on the 20th floor when the blaze occurred.
“Some very hard questions have got to be asked and some very hard questions must be answered,” he told community representative Ishmael Blagrove during his visit.“The fire is not supposed to spread from one flat to another, it’s supposed to be contained. It wasn’t – it spread and it spread upwards and it spread outside as well through the cladding.
“Questions on the sprinkler system, questions on the fire breaks, questions on why the cladding apparently burnt, questions on building control regulations, questions on the safety.
“Hundreds of thousands of people in our country live in tower blocks, very high-rise tower blocks. Every single person who lives in a high-rise apartment today is going to be thinking, ‘How safe am I?”‘
There are fears that the death toll could rise to 100, with many people still unaccounted for. 37 people are currently in hospital, with 17 in a critical condition.
May has ordered a public enquiry into the disaster, adding that a full explanation is owed to “the families, the people who have lost loved ones, friends and the homes in which they live.”
Photo: Dan Kitwood / Getty.
