Manchester Arena Attack: Families ‘Disgusted’ By Memorial Trespassing
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
These are the introductory paragraphs,
Families of people killed in the Manchester Arena attack have said they were “disgusted” after a memorial site for the 22 victims was trespassed on.
The Glade of Light memorial in the city centre remains a building site and does not officially open until the new year.
Two bereaved families said they were appalled to find the security fences pulled down on Sunday.
The article also said this.
Ms Curry said she found hundreds of people were walking through the area, which is supposed to be closed to the public.
She said one man stood on a memorial stone and was abusive when challenged, another woman vomited all over the area, and groups of youths were openly smoking drugs.
I can’t understand what led to this aggressive trespass.
When, I am in certain cities, there does seem to be more low life on the streets than you habitually see in London.
I do wonder, if it is partly because of London’s transport regulations and actions as laid down by the Mayor and Transport for London.
London has an extensive CCTV network and after the London bombings of July the seventh and the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes in 2005, I’m sure it was improved.
Did the improved CCTV and the police action in the shooting the unfortunate Brazilian, deter a lot of low life from going to the centre?
Ken Livingstone or was it Boris, introduced a policy of banning alcohol on London’s transport system.
The precise details are given in this recent article on the Sun.
I have a feeling it had a positive effect, but did it mean that less drunks found their way to the centre?
In 2011, I sat next to a guy on a Manchester bus going from Piccadilly Gardens to Bury. I noticed that about a dozen youths were harassing the driver, trying to get his fare money and remarked on this to my companion.
My companion on hearing my London accent, said you don’t get that in London because of the contactless ticketing, as there is no fare money on the bus.
I was surprised at his reply and asked him to explain. It turned out he was a Trade Union Official, who looked after bus workers in Manchester. He told me his Union wanted a London-style contactless ticketing system, as it had drastically cut the number of attacks on staff in London.
Having worked with the Metropolitan Police on the analysis of data, they have also found that contactless ticketing helps in the tracing of people through London’s transport network and has solved several serious crimes.
Conclusion
I feel that terrorism and London’s reaction to it, banning of alcohol on public transport, contactless ticketing and other measures have helped keep drunks and those up to no good out of the centre.
A Memorial To Lee Rigby
There has been discussion on the BBC and an article on their web site about a memorial to Lee Rigby.
The only real memorial will be for something like his murder never to happen again.
All parties should work for that aim.
The White Crosses
The White Crosses are a memorial to those who died at the Berlin Wall.
The White Crosses
Time dictated that I didn’t have enough tiome to visit the actual wall. Perhaps next time?
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is one of the landmarks of Berlin.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
I remember standing here a few years ago with C discussing the merits of one of the most radical reconstructions of a bomb-damaged church. I think we disagreed, in that she disliked it and I liked it.
It is certainly a different approach to that used at Coventry Cathedral.
In some ways though perhaps the approach taken at Liverpool with the church of St. Luke is more honest, as you are showing war in all its horror. It was after all, C’s favourite church.
In some ways that fact, illustrates her attitude to religion. When I met her, she went to church regularly and had even as a fifteen-year-old a few years earlier, made the decision to change parishes. By the time she died in terrible pain, she had no faith left!
She would be horrified at what is going on in the world in the name of religion. Surely no-one of a sane mind could approve some of the atrocities perpetrated in the name of gods in the last few years.
Surely now over 70 or so years after the end of the Second World War and over fifty years after he first performed it, Bob Dylan’s, With God On Our Side rings even more true.
Four Memorials In Warsaw
Warsaw has a sorry history in the last hundred years. I took the tram to slightly outside the city centre to visit these four.
Sadly the Museum of the History of Polish Jews was closed as it was Tuesday.
The links to the appropriate Wikipedia pages follow.
1. Monument to the Fallen and Murdered in the East
2. Monument to the Ghetto Heroes
The Defence Of The Polish Post Office In Gdansk
Like most from Britain, my knowledge of the incidents at the start of the Second World War is limited.
I’d never heard the story of the Defence of the Polish Post Office in Gdansk.
The story and the defenders are commemorated with this monument. It reportedly shows the last defender handing his rifle to Nike; the goddess of victory.
The Kindertransport Sculpture At Gdansk Station
I hadn’t expected to find this in Gdansk, but when I saw this, I knew exactly what it commemorated, as I pass the other statues at Liverpool Street station regularly.
There’s more about the Kindertransport sculptures here.
For some reason, I didn’t take a lot of pictures. You can never take too many!
Writing this blog with hindsight, my route home from Gdansk could have followed the route of the Kindertrannsport, which is marked by the moving statues. The two I missed are in Berlin and at the Hook of Holland. I actually went very near the one in Berlin, but I didn’t know it was there.
The Anonymous Widower 