Grenfell Tower Fire Anniversary: Dismantling Adds to Distress, Says Campaigner

A man who lost his niece and his cousin in the Grenfell fire nine years ago has said the slow dismantling of the tower added to the distress.

Damel Carayol, a founder of grassroots campaign group Humanity for Grenfell, spoke to BBC London ahead of a memorial event on Sunday, the ninth anniversary of the tragedy in which 72 people died.

He said: "Something about this year kind of tipped a lot of people over to feeling the stress, the strain, the exhaustion of fighting year after year … when there's nothing going on it can drain you, and quite a few people are feeling that way."

He said he was campaigning for justice for the victims, "not just for us and the people who lost their lives, but also people living in the cladded flats who still need the cladding removed - we're doing it for everybody".

"We will be lighting candles, 72 candles, with all the lives that we lost, their names on it.

"We'll be reading out the names, we'll be singing hymns, Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, and myself and the choir, the Humanity for Grenfell Gospel Choir.

"We'll be singing that, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Where Was the Water, and One Love as well to close the service."

Carayol said the Humanity for Grenfell group "came together to try and see what we can do to try and resolve this horrible situation that we find ourselves in".

"You know, everybody has to be honest with themselves and also to people they speak to.

"And if I'm honest to myself, I've found this year quite trying, quite difficult.

"And I'm not the only one, there's a few people, few bereaved people who've found it. Something about this ninth year, you know, the tower coming down is a big factor in that."

The tower - once a 23-storey high rise block home to hundreds of people - is being brought to the ground floor by floor.

Just before 01:00 BST on 14 June 2017, fire broke out in the kitchen of a fourth floor flat before spreading through the whole building.