The mayor of Bristol was accosted by angry residents of the tower block hit by last weekend's fire tragedy, with one throwing water towards him and accosting him as he approached the building for a meeting. The police were called to Twinnell House in Easton after the confrontation, which happened as Marvin Rees and his entourage visited the tower block for the first time since Sunday morning's fire, in which 30-year-old Abdul Jabar Oryakhel was killed.
One woman approached the mayor and a council employee managed to block her attempt to throw water over him from a distance, before the resident berated him in the street. Other residents, who have long complained about conditions in the tower block off Stapleton Road, said his visit, made five days after the fatal fire, had come too late.
Read more: Easton flat fire: People 'traumatised' and 'unable to sleep'
The meeting with local residents lasted around an hour, and was held in the tower block's ground-floor community room, which had been closed and locked up by the city council for years. Residents said it was the first time many had ever been in there.
After the meeting, Mr Rees said it went well. "We had a very constructive conversation with residents, just about the building itself, how it was supposed to work in the event of a fire, and the building did work in the way it was supposed to work - the fire was contained, people were able to leave in an orderly way. The support measures were in place in the community.
"So we talked through that. We talked through their wider concerns about quality of life in the block as well, and about how we make sure that our housing services are as good as they need to be," he added. In recent years, residents of Twinnell House have been the subject of police and council protection orders because of anti-social behaviour and drug dealing, and in August 2020, parents told Bristol Live how their children have to run a gauntlet of drug dealers in the corridors trying to recruit them on their way home from school.
People living in Twinnell House have spoken out this week about the conditions in the flats, and about their fears over the fire safety procedures and the council's response. One resident told BBC Points West, who were the only media to have been informed in advance about the visit taking place this morning, that they weren't happy the Mayor had left it so long.
"It's embarrassing for him to show his face after four days (since) when the incident happened," he said. "He's the representative of this city, and basically he didn't have time to come in to show his respect. We lost one of our own who lived in the building, and that's the city he's representing," he added.
The police were called to the tower block after the Mayor arrived. It is unclear who called them, but three officers arrived to the tower block. Bristol Live has asked the mayor's office if anyone from the mayor's team or the council called the police, and is awaiting a response.
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