![]() ![]() "As a Muslim, I wanted to show solidarity with London, to say we belong to London." He was surrounded by friends, one wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan "Muslim by choice". Hussain Shefaar, 28, had a different motive. "I wanted to be here, to show that everyone's together, that we're not afraid." But, on the train coming into work that morning, he had been afraid he had even wondered whether the Trafalgar Square event itself would be a target. Steve South, a 22-year-old student, just did not feel he could go home and watch it on TV. When the leader of the Muslim Council of Britain, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, took the podium, the applause rang out before he had opened his mouth - the crowd's way of saying that it wanted no backlash against Britain's Muslims, no blind lust for revenge.Īs the mayor put it, Londoners wanted to forge a better city from this tragedy, not to "worry about who to blame and who to hate".Īs befits a diverse city, those who stood in the stifling evening heat had a full range of reasons to be there. "Grief is the language we speak today", said the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, "and let that grief unite us now." "May God bless London and keep us a united community," said Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London. He quoted the late trade unionist Ron Todd, who after 9/11 had written: "An eye for an eye is not the only way."Īfter the attacks on New York and Washington, most speeches by US leaders, from President Bush downwards, included a promise to hunt down those responsible and make them pay. ![]() "An attack on any of us is an attack on all of us," the TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, said, and the audience showed their agreement. Over and over, the crowd - some carrying white balloons and peace signs - clapped whenever they were told to unite together rather than turn on each other. The bombers hoped "we would turn on each other like animals in a cage", he said, "and they failed." He talked of the people the world over who yearn to come to London to study, to work, to realise their dreams.Īround him were banners hailing "London united" and that was his message. In London, he said, "you see the world gathered in one city, living in harmony, as an example to all". ![]() His drawl of a voice was replaced by a croak, as his throat contracted with emotion. Mindful, perhaps, of the international critics who had wondered why Londoners had not made a public demonstration of their feelings - as Madrid did after the bombings of March 2004 - Mr Livingstone had urged his flock to come together in the place that serves as the capital's village square. The chief voice belonged to the man who had called for an evening vigil to be held in London last night. London, in its grief, had rarely looked so beautiful. As he spoke, the waters of the fountains glittered the sunlight dazzled. Now, "I'm proud to declare myself a Londoner". Sir Trevor McDonald brought a surge of applause when he told of his childhood in the West Indies, looking longingly at London as "the great, distant metropolis". Their truth had been proved the very next day, in a way that no one had ever predicted. "They weren't just warm words to get us through an election," he said. Lord Coe told the crowd he had bragged to the Singapore judges of London's creativity, diversity and tolerance. It was just eight days ago - when word came that the world had paid London the grandest possible compliment, choosing it to host the Olympic games of 2012 - but it seemed to belong to a different age. Sebastian Coe stood on the steps of the National Gallery, a human reminder of the last time Trafalgar Square had been packed out. There were little ceremonies all across the capital and on each of the sites of last week's explosions: moments of what Mr Livingstone had called "healing but not forgetting". It was the culmination of a day of remembering in which Londoners had stood together - most obviously during a two-minute silence on the stoke of noon. Led by the mayor, Ken Livingstone, writers, politicians and faith leaders competed with each other to lavish praise on London.
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