More than a hundred protesters marched to the burned out ruins of Grenfell Tower to demand justice for the 72 people who lost their lives in the devastating fire nearly five years ago.
The silent walk on Tuesday night saw a sea of placards reading: “This much evidence, still no charges.”
Onlookers stepped out onto the street from their homes and from pubs to watch, while motorists beeped their horns in support as stretches of west London came to a standstill for over an hour.
It comes a week after the Government apologised as part of the public inquiry into the tragedy for failures in safety regulation oversight in the system regulating safety within the construction industry and the supervision of building control bodies.
Karim Mussilhy, vice chairman of Grenfell United, who lost his uncle in the blaze, said there is “more than enough evidence” for prosecutions to begin already.
Speaking to the Mirror as the procession prepared to leave Kensington Town Hall, he said: “The sea of evidence is mind blowing. It’s one rule for them and a different one for everyone else.”
The 35-year-old campaigner’s uncle Hesham Rahman was disabled and died on the top floor of the tower, aged 57.
Karim said: “The main message from today is Grenfell United and families are demanding changes.
“For the past 4 and a half years we have been campaigning for safer homes, cladding, fire safety - all of this type of stuff.
“We have almost put our justice to the side, it’s now time to demand charges and demand accountability.”
He went on to say: “And justice for us is justice for the cladding people, the fire safety people. Justice for us is justice for them.”
He added that there is enough damning proof for criminal action before the end of the inquiry.
Karim grew up on Lancaster West Estate and said it was encouraging to see people come from far and wide to join the march.
“I’ve seen people come here from Birmingham, it’s amazing to have the support, especially during this crazy time, people have come out and shown love,” he said.
A lawyer representing the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities told an inquiry hearing that mistakes and missed opportunities to learn from previous fires created the environment for the blaze to happen.
Phase two of the inquiry is examining how the tower came to be coated in flammable materials that contributed to the spread of flames, which shot up the building.
