First Grenfell fire funeral

The first funeral for a victim of the Grenfell Tower fire has taken place. Relatives of 23-year-old Mohammad Alhajali had flown in from Syria. Hundreds of mourners gathered outside the Mosque where the ceremony took place. Alhajali, a civil engineer student, lived on the 14th floor.He became separated from his brother who managed to escape. At least 79 people died in the disaster and many more have been left homeless. In a statement to the House of Commons, Britain’s Prime Minister has apologised for “state failures” after the blaze. “People were left without belongings, without roofs over their heads, without even basic information about what had happened, what they should do and where they could seek help. That was a failure of the state, local and national, to help people when they needed it the most. As prime minister I apologise for that failure.” Absolutely disgraceful. This is corporate manslaughter and gross negligence on a massive scale. Heads must roll. https://t.co/hBNM7YFyNH— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) June 21, 2017 There has been widespread anger at the slow response from the authorities. On Wednesday some marched with anti-government protesters demanding “justice for Grenfell”. However some support groups accused demonstrators of hijacking resident’s grief for political purposes. I’m calling on the Government to grant right to remain, on compassionate grounds, to any #GrenfellTower resident. https://t.co/ql3O2qAWSV?— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) June 21, 2017