UK Column News - 29th June 2017
Survivors of Grenfell fire barred from Kensington council meeting, ‘risk disruption’
©
Hannah McKay / Reuters
RT,
29
June, 2017
Grenfell
Tower fire survivors have been banned from attending the first
meeting of senior local councillors since the tragedy – because
there is a “risk of disruption.”
The
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea cabinet is meeting privately
on Thursday, where its controversial Conservative leader, Nicholas
Paget-Brown, will lead the council’s business.
According
to the local authority’s website, councillors will discuss the fire
with support officers and “invited
guests (if any).”
The
press is also not allowed in the meeting.
There
will be no written reports other than minutes for the meeting, which
is described as an “oral
item.”
As
an official document, the minutes might only be made available to the
public much later.
“The
Labour group believe it is a grave mistake to exclude representatives
of the Grenfell survivors, others who have been affected by the fire
and also the media. We believe this will only give credence to the
view that there is a cover-up in progress and we do not accept the
excuse that there may be violence,” Labour
councillor Judith Blakeman said.
“The
Labour group have already called for the resignation of the entire
cabinet,” Blakeman,
who also sits on the Tenant Management Organization, which runs the
borough’s housing provisions, dded.
A
council spokesperson told the Guardian that all third parties were
barred from the meeting because of “recent
real threats and assaults on council staff and damage to one of the
office buildings.”
“Such
risks remain and we have had to take the decision to hold the meeting
in private as to do otherwise would likely result in disorder,” they
dded.
“Kensington
and Chelsea really don’t get it, do they?” Guardian
columnist Dawn Foster tweeted.
“There
should be protests tonight about this really,” ‘i’
newspaper editor Barbara Speed wrote over an image of the meeting’s
notice.
The
Grenfell Massacre: Burning & Looting
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