Protesters have charged into Kensington town hall in support of the Grenfell Tower fire victims, chanting 'we want justice', 'we want an inquest' and 'killers' in the lobby.
According to Sky News, the hundreds-strong protest began spontaneously, with the level of anger on the streets rising. Those with missing loved ones continue to call for more help from authorities and for details to emerge about what could have caused the blaze.
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Watch the moment protesters stormed the building in the video below:
Credit: BBC
More than 20 police officers rushed into the town hall to restore order and mounted police are on standby, Sky correspondent Enda Brady said.
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Sky have also reported that there has been an arrest at the protest. Brady has since said he was moving away from the scene for his own safety, as the atmosphere was growing hostile towards the media.
Protesters made five demands of Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council, the local authority under which the control of the tower block fell.
These demands were for:
- For a written commitment from the council on immediate rehousing of all the victims of Grenfell Tower fire within the borough
- The immediate release of funds to cover costs of welfare and all losses suffered by the victims
- For the council to commission an investigation into the recent £10m refurbishment project of the same tower
- A full list of victims of the tragedy to be released
- For the council to commission an investigation into all other similar buildings in the borough to identify fire, health and safety risks and put in place immediate control measures.
Mustafa Mansour, who helped organise the protest outside the town hall addressed the crowd prior to the storm. According to the Metro, he told crowds: "The outpouring of love and generosity from the public has been extraordinary, £5 million has already been raised.
"But neither the leader of the council nor his cabinet have not made any commitments to those who have suffered.
"The council has not committed any funds for the welfare of the public. We would like the leader of the council to make a statement to the media and public present today.
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"We demand the chief executive and the leader respond to the victims of this tragedy.
"Firstly we want communication with victims of the Grenfell tower fire so that we know who has died. Families need to know if they have lost their loved ones.
"Particularly funding to cover the cost of rehoming the victims of this tragedy. No commitment has been made to the victims to rehome them in the borough. This commitment needs to be made today.
"We demand a criminal investigation into the £10million that was spent of public money on the refurbishment of the property, and to bring all those responsible for that project to justice. We want an investigation into all similar buildings in the borough and across London.
"We want to see all necessary measures taken to ensure this tragedy will never be repeated in London again.
"We will stay here until we get a response from the leader of the council to make a statement about the systemic failures and to not act for just the few."
More than 70 remain unaccounted for and 30 have been confirmed dead in the tower block fire, with the death toll expected to rise.
Grenfell Tower following the blaze. Credit: PA
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Despite commitments by the government to house them locally, it today emerged that people who have lost their homes in the Grenfell Tower fire may be rehoused in other areas of London.
Last night the Conservative leader of Kensington Council, Nick Paget-Brown, appeared on Newsnight and seemed to blame Grenfell residents for sprinklers not being installed in the block.
The council leader said: "We didn't consider retrofitting sprinklers because we were told that what you try to do when you are refurbishing is to contain a fire within a particular flat so that the fire service can evacuate that flat, deal with the fire.
"There was not a collective view that all the flats should be fitted with sprinklers because that would have delayed and made the refurbishment of the block more disruptive.
Credit: BBC
"We are now talking retrospectively after the most enormous tragedy, but many residents felt that we needed to get on with the installation of new hot water systems, new boilers and that trying to retrofit more would delay the building, and that sprinklers aren't the answer.
"There was not a collective view that all the flats should be fitted with sprinklers because that would have delayed and made the refurbishment of the block more disruptive."
Experts on the programme said the sprinklers could have been fitted for £200,000.
The Guardian also revealed that an investigation of the supply chain had confirmed the material used in the cladding that covered the Grenfell Tower was the cheaper, more flammable version of the two available options.
Featured Image Credit: PA