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Toby Melville | Reuters
Firefighters direct jets of water onto a tower block severely damaged by a serious fire, in north Kensington, West London, Britain June 14, 2017.
Authorities in London said Saturday that 58 people are missing and presumed dead from this week’s fire disaster at London high-rise tower.
The update from police came as Prime Minster Theresa May was set to meet with survivors of the high-rise fire at her office at 10 Downing Street. May has faced a barrage of criticism for the government’s initial response to the tragedy that killed 30 and left 70 people missing.
Hundreds of angry protesters gathered outside 10 Downing Street on Saturday, raising chants that called May a “coward, British news outlets reported. Protesters are demanding to know why long-standing fire safety concerns raised by a tenants’ group about the public housing tower, tucked in the city’s ritzy North Kensington neighborhood, had not been addressed.
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“She’s a coward and needs to leave,” Tilly Howard, a protester told the Guardian. “The people are waking up to the right wing mainstream media and May just doesn’t get the public mood.”
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Earlier on Saturday, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip observed a minute of silence to honor the victims of the London high-rise fire. They paid their respect before the start of the annual Trooping the Color procession that marks the observance of the Queen’s birthday.
The Queen said in a statement that she was “profoundly struck by the immediate inclination of people throughout the country to offer comfort and support to those in desperate need.”
“Put to the test, the United Kingdom has been resolute in the face of adversity,” she added. “United in our sadness, we are equally determined, without fear or favor, to support all those rebuilding lives so horribly affected by injury and loss.”
