Dozens of people gathered in the centre of Manchester to mark the five year anniversary of the Grenfell tower fire which killed 72 people.
Top bosses including Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, Salford city mayor Paul Dennett, Manchester City Council leader Bev Craig, and councillor Pat Karney were all at the small vigil outside Manchester Central Library on Tuesday evening, June 14, to mark the tragic occasion, and call for action and justice for those affected by the tragedy.
Andy Burnham addressed those gathered to say that leaders in Manchester would never stop pushing for justice and accountability, as well as a resolution to the "cladding crisis" that has affected hundreds of homes across the region, leaving some flats in Salford freezing after unsafe cladding was taken down and not replaced, and a block in Trafford that was STILL fitted with the same dangerous cladding seen in the Grenfell disaster in March - just a few months ago.
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Mr Burnham said: "Greater Manchester stood with Grenfell from the start to push for justice and accountability for what happened on that terrible and dreadful night five years ago where 72 people died in the most horrendous circumstances imaginable. We will remember all involved and their families who will be suffering, we know what they are going through, that pain, and what it is like to be so close to a tragedy as Manchester knows from the bombing just weeks before.
"We will send that message that we are with them forever and also with those who are still struggling with the cladding scandal and have been in that position for five years. Where is the justice? Where are the answers? Where is the accountability? That was a man-made tragedy that could and should have been prevented. We will be there as long as it takes, we won't stop until we have justice for everybody who has been affected by the cladding crisis, we won't stop until we have justice for Grenfell."
The Bishop of Manchester, Rev David Walker, was also in attendance, and recounted his memories of the night in question, waking up just three miles away from the blaze due to working in London at the time. That, combined with the plight of so many families who are still waiting for answers to ensure their homes are safe from this identified cladding, is a big driver for him to keep campaigning for change.
He said: "We've got the sticking power, we will not rest until every home is safe - that's the logical and sensible solution that we keep on pushing until we win and we can because we have the moral right. It's not the residents in this property who are to blame it's those who cut costs at all points. We know people who suffer and we will be there for them. Today we are remembering all the people who lost their lives and all the others whose lives will never be the same after that night."
The names of all 72 people who died in the tragedy, ranging from stillborn Logan Gomes to 84-year-old Sheila Smith, were read aloud, before those gathered fell silent to remember those lost. Ian Redfern, group manager at Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, was also at the event to pay tribute to the emergency service workers who responded to the incident, and tried to save the lives of those in the building that night.
