Five arrested for mocking tragedy
In this Wednesday, June 14, 2017 file photo smoke and flames rise from the Grenfell Tower high-rise building in west London. London police have arrested five people over a video that showed a cardboard model of Grenfell Tower being burned on a bonfire. The Metropolitan Police say the men turned themselves in late Monday, Nov. 5, 2018 and were arrested on suspicion of a public order offence after allegedly creating an effigy of the fire-ravaged west London apartment building. The men, ranging in ages from 19 to 55, were taken into custody. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
LONDON (AP) — London police have arrested five people over a video that showed a cardboard model of Grenfell Tower being burned on a bonfire — a video that shocked the families of the 72 victims who died in the 2017 inferno that engulfed the apartment block.
The Metropolitan Police say the men remained in custody Tuesday after being arrested late Monday on suspicion of a public order offense after allegedly creating a copy of the fire-ravaged west London public housing tower. The men ranged in age from 19 to 55.
Survivors of the 2017 blaze expressed disgust at the video, which showed a large flammable model marked “Grenfell Tower,” complete with paper figures at the windows, being set on fire.
Khadijah Mamudu, whose mother and younger brother escaped the June 14, 2017, firestorm, called the burning of the model a “vile act.”
Although it was not clear when the video was taken, it emerged on social media at a time of year when Britons celebrate Guy Fawkes Day. The November holiday uses fireworks and bonfires to mark Fawkes’s failure to blow up Parliament in 1605.
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