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London mayor Sadiq Khan was heckled by angry crowds as he visited Grenfell Tower on Thursday, including by a seven-year-old boy who asked: “How many children died? What are you going to do about it?”
Mr Khan was surrounded by photographers and members of the public on Thursday as he visited the scene in the aftermath of the huge blaze.The mayor was challenged about the relief efforts as he made his way up the street with a police escort.
Speaking to the cameras, he praised the local community spirit, to which one woman shouted: “We can’t say the same for the authorities. We have seen nobody. Something needs to be done.”
As tempers flared, a television news anchor was forced to apologise for the bad language during a live broadcast after two members of the crowd exchanged cross words. “People are angry and I share that anger,” Mr Khan said, following heckles from the crowd.
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He then turned to Kai Ramos, aged seven, who was sitting on top of someone’s shoulders, and asked to shake the little boy’s hand. But he asked the Labour politician: “How many children died? What are you going to do about it?”
Mr Khan replied: “The bad news, I’m afraid, is lots of people died in the fire. There are a lot of brave firefighters and police and ambulance workers. And once it’s safe, they are going to go into the building.”
The child repeated: “What are you going to do about it?”
“That’s what they’re doing, you see,” said Mr Khan. “They are going through the building now. That’s why it takes some time and I know it’s very sad because you may have a friend in there.”
Kai, who was with his mother Jade, then asked: “What are you going to do with people’s life? They lost their home.”
Mr Khan answered: “We need to know they have somewhere to live.” When the boy heckled “I can’t hear you,” the mayor said: “We’re going to do that. I know it’s upsetting, I know you’re angry, we’ll get that answered.”
Afterwards, Kai was asked whether he was satisfied with Mr Khan’s answers, to which he said: “I didn’t hear them.”