Sickening: ‘vile’ group burns effigy of Grenfell Tower on Bonfire Night – in mockery of the dead

Do you know these men?

The images above were taken from a video in which an effigy of Grenfell Tower is burned, in mockery of the residents who died, were injured, or had their lives irreversibly harmed when the tower block was destroyed by fire last year.

Police have launched an investigation, as this report states:

“Scotland Yard have launched an investigation into a “vile” video of a model of Grenfell Tower being burned on a bonfire.

“Party-goers … laughed and joked as they mocked the Grenfell tragedy.

“The Metropolitan Police are appealing for information on who was at the event that has been widely condemned as “sick” and racist.

“The footage, apparently shot for bonfire night in a private garden, shows the 3ft cardboard model with brown faces at the windows – and a woman in a niqab – being lifted onto a fire.

“[It] shows a group of white people laughing as the tower mock-up burns.

“They refer to “ninjas”, thought to be a substitute for either Muslim women who wear a face veil or the offensive term “n*****”.

“Men in the group call mockingly: “Help me!” and “Stay in your flat” – the advice given to residents during the UK’s worst residential fire since the Second World War, which engulfed Grenfell Tower in north Kensington last summer.

“Social media users felt sure the event was a hate crime, calling for those behind the burning to be punished.”

You won’t see the video in this article. I won’t give this kind of hate the oxygen of publicity.

But if you know any of the people in the images above – which were taken from the video – please contact the police.

The public reaction has been universally negative:

https://twitter.com/DancingTheMind/status/1059510471810789376

Some chose to make political points – but can anyone blame a person who says the following?

One of the people who offered their condemnation was herself condemned: UK prime minister Theresa May.

She tweeted:

Mrs May’s words were considered the height of hypocrisy, in the light of her own behaviour towards the victims of Grenfell.

Mrs May’s attitude was insensitive, but it was not a hate crime.

Making a racist effigy of Grenfell Tower, and laughing while burning it, is.

Take a good look at the images, and don’t hesitate to call the police if you think you can help identify the perpetrators of this abomination.

UPDATE: Five men have handed themselves in to police after images from the “Grenfell effigy” video appeared on the social media.

According to the BBC: “The Metropolitan Police said the men – two aged 49 and the others aged 19, 46 and 55 – handed themselves in at a south London station on Monday night.”

They have been arrested on suspicion of having committed a public order offence.

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19 Comments

  1. Ray November 6, 2018 at 12:20 am - Reply

    What the hell is wrong with the people of this country who do this very disrespectful to the people who lost there lives and the people who survived, they need to be arrested and charged with hate crimes.

  2. Thomas November 6, 2018 at 1:30 am - Reply

    It’s not a nice thing to do, but there are more serious criminals-murderers, rapists, burglars ect for the police to go after.

    • Mike Cox November 6, 2018 at 2:33 pm - Reply

      Indeed – Nobody died, some cardboard was burned.

      71 people DIED in Grenfell Towers on 14th June 2017, and thousands of tenants are still at risk in similarly clad buildings, yet no-one is in custody for that crime.

      That’s the REAL mockery!

    • Jim Cook November 6, 2018 at 4:36 pm - Reply

      It is the minds of such people that is sickening and Thomas is blinkered if he cannot see that you cannot do comparisons with such people

  3. Alas Poor Uric November 6, 2018 at 7:04 am - Reply

    I’d link it in with the machismo culture of Trump, Netanyahu, Bolsanaro, Orban etc, where it is deemed cool to mock the vulnerable.

    Expressions of disgust from the Tories doesn’t wash as these were the very people whose policies have strengthened the culture of gloating and vilification.

  4. SteveH November 6, 2018 at 7:07 am - Reply

    According to this morning’s news reports they all handed themselves into the police lastnight, they are currently all under arrest.

  5. Barry Davies November 6, 2018 at 9:08 am - Reply

    Sometimes you have to wonder about the mind sets of some people, it may have seemed to be a good idea at the time by whoever constructed it, but it was a massive mistake.

  6. 4foxandhare November 6, 2018 at 9:17 am - Reply

    This is utterly despicable. I hope someone identifies these monsters.

    The grieving and bereft Grenfell survivors (116 from the tower – 22 from adjacent properties), have more than enough heartbreaking problems to deal with. As I understand the present situation, only 136 have been given permanent homes, and yet Theresa May, promised they would be rehoused within three weeks of the fire.

    It’s a national disgrace.

  7. Dan November 6, 2018 at 12:14 pm - Reply

    It’s vile but I don’t think it’s a police matter. Investigating and possibly prosecuting people for “hate crime” at what seems to have been a private party will not make the streets safer for ordinary people.

    To be frank I’m concerned about the idea of “hate crime” full stop. Some of the “hate crimes” we hear about seem to me to be getting very close to “thought crime” and that is a dangerous road to be going down.

    • SteveH November 6, 2018 at 8:09 pm - Reply

      The law doesn’t apply to the inside of private premises, there is no mention of an exception for gardens + plus any notion of it being ‘private’ vanished the moment the video was published on the web.

      • Mike Sivier November 7, 2018 at 10:17 am - Reply

        It doesn’t matter where the incident happened. That’s not relevant, according to the law. The operative element is whether it was published to others – for example, on a WhatsApp group.

        • SteveH November 7, 2018 at 10:25 am - Reply

          Thankyou for confirming what I said above.

          • Mike Sivier November 10, 2018 at 12:34 pm

            Well, partly.

  8. Colin Clarke November 6, 2018 at 1:13 pm - Reply

    I really don’t think you have the right to decide which offences should be acted on by our Police force. That is an all to often whinge from motorists, yet, the biggest death toll in our country comes as a result of war or driving. War is the only one that beats driving. I could bet you moan about the Police “Wasting their time” on Policing drivers too!

  9. trev November 6, 2018 at 2:17 pm - Reply

    Jesus. That’s incredible. I’m pretty much lost for words. Disgusting scum.

  10. nmac064 November 6, 2018 at 2:26 pm - Reply

    The evil side of human nature. There is a fine dividing line between this sort of disgraceful ad unacceptable behaviour and what the Nazis got up to in the 1930s.

  11. Zippi November 6, 2018 at 2:44 pm - Reply

    We really have lost our way. The bon(e)fires belong to Samhain and the 5th of November is a celebration of religious intolerance, neither of which has anything to do with what these people were doing. There is no excuse for their behaviour but methinks that it is time that we re-examined our traditions. £argely, we have forgotten why we do things and meaning has become lost, or discarded. I don’t celebrate the 5th Of November, because of what it means. Are we not somewhat hypocritical, as a nation that professes toleration, yet annually burns the effigy of a man who was driven to and act of attempted mass murder, because of religious intolerance?
    As far as the actions of these persons goes, what drives people to commit such acts? I fear that lack of engagement and education will only make matters worse. If one cannot challenge somebody’s opinion, one have no hope of changing it. Silencing people, with political correctness will not change their minds but merely strengthen their resolve and legitimise, in their minds, their beliefs.

  12. Pat Sheehan November 7, 2018 at 12:35 am - Reply

    When the ‘so-called-elected-government’ of the UK hob-nobs with savage, right wing dictatorships, plying them with all the weapons and training needed to assault and destroy thousands of innocent, civilian lives in neighbouring countries then obsequiously line-up for bonus holidays and freebies on the pretext of ‘cementing business ties’ and ‘furthering education’ we can expect our own UK moral standard to slip somewhat!
    It would be very ‘odd’ if it didn’t! The rot starts at the top!

  13. Tony November 8, 2018 at 12:35 pm - Reply

    There are some very sick people about indeed.

    Here is a much worse example:

    “any prime minister should be extremely cautious about ordering the use of weapons of mass destruction which would result in the indiscriminate killing of millions of innocent civilians”

    This statement appeared in the draft version of Labour’s 2017 general election manifesto. What kind of person could possibly object to this?

    Well, it was too much for the sick minds of Labour’s nuclear mafia who successfully fought to get it deleted from final version.

    (The British General Election of 2017 by Philip Cowley and Denis Kavanagh, p182/3)

    Labour needs to have a clear anti-nuclear position for the next election. I would urge readers of this blog to help bring this about.

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