this is bbc news live in west london, where police say that at least 30 people are now confirmed to have died in the fire that engulfed grenfell tower. the police have taken the lead for the investigation, and if criminal offences have been committed, it will be us who investigate that. the official death toll has risen to 30, but the bbc believes that around 70 people are dead or missing. the cause of the fire is still unknown. the queen and prince william have been visiting a relief centre which has been helping victims of the fire. the bbc understands that as many as 70 people are dead or missing, many of them had been trapped on the upper floors of the building. the prime minister has visited

survivors in hospital this morning, and is chairing a special taskforce this afternoon. we will have a live report from west london shortly. the other main headlines this hour: a second soldier has died following an incident involving a tank, at an army firing range in pembrokeshire. a "service of hope" is being held at southwark cathedral in honour of first—responders, families and survivors of the london bridge attack. president trump has confirmed that he is personally under investigation for sacking the former head of the fbi, james comey. good afternoon from west london, where the number of people known

to have died in the grenfell tower fire has risen to at least 30. police say they believe the final total will be higher. this morning the queen and prince william visited the scene, they went to a relief centre which has been helping victims of the fire. they spent time speaking to local residents, volunteers and members of the emergency services. also this morning, theresa may has been to chelsea and westminster hospital to visit the injured there. richard lister has our first report, and a warning that it contains distressing images. the queen came today to join a community in mourning. many people today have said they felt ignored, both before the grenfell tragedy and after too. this was a royal visit designed in part to show that the nation was sharing their pain. at times it was overwhelming.

in the background the queen could hear a woman clearly overcome with grief. prince william described the fire as one of the most terrifying things he'd ever seen, and he praised those who had to respond to it. you guys did a brilliantjob in unprecedented circumstances. stung perhaps by criticism that she didn't meet survivors yesterday, the prime minister was at chelsea and westminster hospital to meet some of those injured. while it could take weeks to get a final figure, the confirmed number of dead continues to rise. sadly, as i said before, we always knew the number of those that died would increase, and i am able to say at this point in time we know that at least 30 people have died as a result of this fire. sadly, and tragically, that includes one person who was taken to hospital, and despite the very best medical care from the nhs, has now sadly died. this is the flat that i live in...

sajar watched the fire destroyed his home that night and is now among those wondering what the future holds. the council is paying for him and other grenfell tower residents to live in nearby hotels. theirfood is being paid for as well, but this is not home. he still has the keys to his old flat and notes he made about what went wrong that night. the sign said, stay in your building. is that true? when there is a fire, should you stay in? people stayed home and people died. i saw with my own eyes people jumping out, because they had read that sign and they thought they were safe if they stayed. the only chance they had was to jump out. that is one of the factors to be considered by the public inquiry into this disaster.

there are many questions, most urgently about the cladding on this building. getting all the answers will take months at the very least, but the government is scrambling to reassure millions of other high—rise residents that their homes are safe. the community support has been almost overwhelming. refuge centres say they no longer need donations of food and clothes. what is really needed are new homes for the hundreds of survivors. the council says finding them temporary accommodation has been hard. finding permanent homes will be even harder. what we are committed to doing is making sure every household from grenfell tower tower can find a permanent new home in the local area, but because of the shortage of housing in london, but in particular in this borough, that will take some time. we could be talking about a couple of years while we get to that end point where every household is back in a permanent new home in the borough. but the trauma of this event will last long beyond the need to find new homes. this has been life—changing

for all those affected, survivors and also the emergency teams. the conversations i have had, you know, one colleague said he was going in there literally having to choose who to save and who to leave to die because, you know, you only have two hands and can only take out so many people. my colleagues who went in, took people out, went in again, took people out, the scenes they would have encountered in the early hours of tuesday morning, it is absolutely unimaginable. as the days pass, the need for answers is becoming even stronger and the grief, it seems, is just as raw. richard lister, bbc news. let's get the latest on the investigation into the fire now from our correspondent mark lowen who's at the police cordon. we heard an update on the numbers

confirmed dead, and that a criminal investigation is being carried out. yes, they believe that there is clearly accountability, criminal accountability, to be investigated and taken into account in this extremely difficult investigation will stop there are police and forensics teams trying to access the above lowers —— the upper floors of the tower. the police believe there are many more bodies inside the tower, but they do not believe they will find any more survivors inside. the missing posters are plastered over buildings, churches, vehicles, and the police are not confirming yet how many people remain missing. we have also had a statement from the department for communities and local government announcing that an emergency fire safety review has been launched to assess similar buildings across the country. they

say they have begun a thorough audit of all local authorities to determine how many such buildings there are, how many are of concern, and the detail of the buildings, how big they might be and how many people they might have living in them, and crucially, whether they have been refurbished within the last 15 years and whether the refurbishment included works to the cladding, reinforcing the idea that perhaps it was indeed the cladding that was behind this fire. the media today are reporting that they have spoken to a supplier of the cladding, which confirms that a cheap, plastic version of the cladding was used, less flame reta rda nt cladding was used, less flame retardant then the mineral or cladding —— mineral ore, which would have been cheaper. and if that was a

contributing factor, there will be questions to answer for all those involved in the supply line for the cladding, and there is still considerable anger in this community. the police also said that in the course of their investigations, they felt that they knew where the fire started, but they appear to be ruling out arson. yes, the metropolitan police said that at this stage there is nothing to suggest that the fire was started deliberately, so clearly this was in their view a tragic accident. of course, that gathered pace and end of the tower because the regulations we re of the tower because the regulations were not in place to stop it, no central sprinkler or alarm system, only one staircase, no external fireplace, and there was this stage

put policy in place. i have spoken to the cousin of a 12—year—old girl who is still missing. she is wandering around the side streets with a poster of her cousin on her back, and she told me that, tragically, her cousin's ‘s sister, mother and father managed to make it out but somewhere on the staircase, the little girl got separated from them, and they have not heard of her whereabouts. they fear she was caught inside. she was on the 20th floor and got separated. she spoke to her sister on the way, but there may have been smoke or flames blocking the way — we don't know. these are some of the questions that will be asked. and this is one of essentially dozens of people who we re essentially dozens of people who were still trapped inside. that tells you how difficult than painstaking this investigation will be, and how the forensic workers will have their work cut out to

establish the identities of those caught inside this terrible inferno. mark, many thanks. well, there are still a lot of people who are unaccounted for. heartbreaking stories of last phone calls and messages from people who were trapped in their homes. sophie hutchinson reports on the desperate search for the missing, and again viewers may find this distressing. outside a local church, people have come to honour the injured and the dead. the number of flowers, candles and toys has been growing as the extent of this tragedy emerges. the official death toll is now 30, but no one is in any doubt that the actualfigure will be far higher. mohammed al—haj ali, a syrian refugee, the only victim to have been officially named. his friend paid tribute to him. mohammed was a kind man, he was full of passion for his family. he was a great individual.

he came to the uk looking for safety. he wanted to do his degree in civil engineering, and once i asked him, why are you studying civil engineering? why don't you study it so i can find you a job? because i'm a computer engineer. he laughed and said, "because i want to go back to syria when the war is over and help rebuild the country. " he said, "they will need us." this is the kind of person he was. these are some of the faces of those who are missing. these children lived on the 20th floor with their parents and little brother. all are missing. this woman lived in the building with her two—year—old son. she called her brother and said she was told to stay in her flat. eventually, the phone cut out. local residents are still reeling from what happened. thinking of the people who died, the babies, the children, the mothers,

the grandfathers and grandmothers. they are all on our minds today. 2a people injured in the blaze are still being treated in hospital, 12 in a critical condition. today, police said they didn't expect to find any more survivors. sophie hutchinson, bbc news. sadiq khan has written an open letter to theresa may outlining his concerns and some of the things he thinks the government ought to do. he was spoken to by one of our correspondence earlier. let's listen to what he had to say. correspondence earlier. let's listen to what he had to saylj correspondence earlier. let's listen to what he had to say. i spent some time in the area with the residents over the last two days, and i shared their frustration and anger, and over the last two days, and i shared theirfrustration and anger, and i am demanding from the prime minister a nswe i’s , am demanding from the prime minister answers, action and justice. am demanding from the prime minister

answers, action andjustice. she has called for a public enquiry — what do you want to see from that public enquiry in terms of the way it is set up? it is important that we are not left waiting for years before we get answers. we need answers now. i am asking foran get answers. we need answers now. i am asking for an interim response to the enquiry this summer. we need to make sure that local residents and families have proper representation and are given legal representation. we need to find out that if any individual or organisation is responsible, they are legally prosecuted. meantime, iam responsible, they are legally prosecuted. meantime, i am seeing residents struggling, and the council needs to raise their game and make sure that all residents are rehoused locally, as i was promised yesterday by government ministers. they are coordinating with local volu nteers they are coordinating with local volunteers and charities, but we also need to make sure that the government guarantees that they will implement immediately the 2013 rules that were advised as the result of a previous fire. it simply isn't good

enough. are you concerned about the level of feeling and the reaction on the streets of north kensington? you yourself were on the end of a bit of heckling yesterday. listen, i understand fully, and i shared their constrains —— their concerns, frustration and anger. issues raised from residents to the council, no action taken. i'm afraid things haven't improved in the last two or three days in terms of the council response and the government response. there are people still sleeping in a sports hall, still staying with family and friends, even though i was promised by minister yesterday that every resident would rehoused locally. they said they would check every single tower block in london and across the country to reassure people that they are safe. i am asking the prime minister to publish asking the prime minister to publish a list of those tower blocks that have been checked, but also a

timeline for when the remaining blocks will be checked, because there are families tonight living in tower blocks worried about, god forbid, if their block catches fire, would this same end occur to them that we saw tragically occurring at g re nfell tower? that we saw tragically occurring at grenfell tower? have the closures of fire stations by your predecessor had any effect on the response they have been able to provide?” had any effect on the response they have been able to provide? i was in close contact with the commissioner of the fire service, who was at the scene, and she said that in 30 years of experience, the worst fire she has ever seen. of experience, the worst fire she has ever seen. more of experience, the worst fire she has ever seen. more than 350 firefighters over the last couple of days have been working in north kensington. i want to think every single firefighter and their families for their hard work. also surrey and kent have been helping, and the police and ambulance services. this is not a time to talk

about the consequences of policies from a previous mayor, it is a time for supporting our emergency services. sadiq khan, the mayor of london. let's go to kensington town hall and join our correspondence dan johnson. this is the focal point of protest that has. 0ver johnson. this is the focal point of protest that has. over to you, dan. the protest started an hour ago and has grown in the last hour considerably, probably up to 300 people here outside kensington town hall, the offices of the borough of kensington and chelsea, and a lot of frustration, a lot of anger in this crowd directed specifically at local government here in the borough, and national government, too. the victims and the relatives who were caught up in this fire, they feel, had been let down in the aftermath of that fire, and in the build—up to it, the fact that that fire actually

happened, took hold and destroyed so much of the building so quickly, so this crowd has been chanting very noisily, voicing their anger and making specific demands of kensington and chelsea council. it looks like, now, the crowd's moving towards the doors of the town hall. if we just towards the doors of the town hall. if wejust spin towards the doors of the town hall. if we just spin round and look, towards the doors of the town hall. if wejust spin round and look, that is the main entrance to the offices of kensington and chelsea borough. it looks like people are actually trying to get into the council to make their point directly. they have been frustrated that they haven't seen been frustrated that they haven't seen officials from the council, that people haven't been out on the street scene after talking to people, so now some of this crowd taking the message directly to the council. it looks like the doors are closed and locked, so we do not think anyone has been able to get in. it is notable that there hasn't been any security here, no police on

duty. the numbers have grown in the last hour as more people have come down from around the area where the fire happened. they have come here in the last hour with a very strong message about what's happened this week, wanting to give a direct message to kensington and chelsea borough that they feel let down. they have been demanding that more funds be made available to rehouse the victims and families and people who have had to move out their homes in the area around the tower as well. they feel that people have been left without homes, and people are telling us that the council has blood on their hands because of what has happened. they feel the refurbishment work done on grenfell tower wasn't done properly, was done on the cheap. they have been making very serious allegations, some of these people, about failures by the council in maintaining and refurbishing the block, and they

have also voiced their frustration about the response of the council in the days after this. it does look like some people have managed to get through the doors and into the lobby of the council offices here. this is something of a situation now, with people, residents of kensington and chelsea, actually having got inside the entrance of the offices here, and it looks like they are staging some sort of sit in protest. no one is really here dealing with this situation. i'm not sure how this will develop. there are probably upwards of 50 people who have got through the doors of the council offices and are now in the lobby. some of them, i can see through the window, have started going up the stairs. this is quite a big office block, the headquarters of kensington and chelsea borough, one of the richest boroughs in london.

this is an expression of the frustration that people have felt, that alongside such wealth in this borough, there is obviously clearly a lot of poverty, and great frustration felt by people that that poverty has been allowed to exist alongside that wealth, with a feeling that poorer people have not had afair feeling that poorer people have not had a fair dealfrom feeling that poorer people have not had a fair deal from the council, from the government, from the people who have maintained their building. a lot of people saying they have been desperately let down. they even feel that this is an issue of corporate manslaughter, some people have put it as they have been speaking to each other in this crowd at this protest today. they want a full and proper investigation, that a public enquiry is not good enough, that public inquest should be held, and they want a separate investigation into the refurbishment of g re nfell tower last investigation into the refurbishment of grenfell tower last year, that £10 million refurbishment that resulted in various improvements, but also that cladding on the outside. they say that needs to be

separately investigated. they also wa nt separately investigated. they also want help for the victims' families and those i have been made homeless by this disaster. they say that people are in desperate need right now. they also want more information about the people who lost their lives in this fire. the authorities have only so far been able to confirm 17 dead. there has been a lot of frustration here that people know other people who must have lost their lives, but the authorities haven't been able to confirm the higher death tolls, and that has upset people. they say they cannot grieve until they have official confirmation that their loved ones have died. that is all part of what has gone into this boiling pot, really, that has built up into this anger and frustration that is displaying itself now at the headquarters of the borough council. and down, as you say, it feels like

a boiling pot —— dan, do you get a sense that there is a particular person that they want to speak to? the man who appeared to organise this protest through facebook and addressed the crowd initially is a quy addressed the crowd initially is a guy who doesn't live in grenfell tower but lives nearby and had friends who lived in the tower who lost their lives, so he had a personal connection to the building and to the disaster. he had lost friends in that fire, and that is what motivated him to organise the protest, because he shared the feeling of many of these people that the response from the authorities simply hasn't been good enough. there is a lot of anger amongst this crowd, and it is being directed at the council generally, and also at national government. but i have seen posters that show the leader and the chief executive of the council, and

they have identified those two men and said that they haven't done enough, that they have let people down, and they haven't seen those men out on the ground, meeting people, checking for themselves enough about the situation, what people need and making sure it is given, and that is why they have come here with this list of demands that they say they want fulfilled before they will leave. perhaps we can graba before they will leave. perhaps we can grab a word with some of the people here. excuse me... would you speak to bbc news?” people here. excuse me... would you speak to bbc news? i am a journalist. no problem. excuse me, madam, would you speak to bbc news and say why you are here? we are here to stand with the rest of the people who became homeless because of the fire. and we are trying to push the council to give them properties because they are homeless. they have no properties, no income, no benefit, no paper, nothing at all. is it helped that they need right now or do you mean

in the long—term? they need right now or do you mean in the long-term? no, they need their help right now. people with nowhere to sleep? yes. council have said that they have made arrangements in the short term and that people will be rehoused in the long—term. that people will be rehoused in the long-term. nobody knows when they will be rehoused. they have been here more than 30 years, and there are lots of houses empty. they should give all these people properties right now. how has it got to the point where people have effectively stormed the council offices? how has it got to that point of being so angry? the people are so angry. point of being so angry? the people are so angry. all the people are so angry, because... because of the council? yes. they can do a lot and they don't want to do anything. what do they need to do immediately? rehouse all of these people now.

those people, they shouldn't be sleeping in the streets, no one. thank you. that gives you a flavour. let's ta ke thank you. that gives you a flavour. let's take a step round here. here is the guy who organised the protest. this has nothing to do with... protest. this has nothing to do with. .. there is protest. this has nothing to do with... there is a private function going on and we should not disturb that. can we please move out of here and go over there? we have a response from the council, a written response from the council, a written response that i would like to read out and share with people, but i would like to move out of here, please. you are live on bbc news. what has happened? we sent a set of demands to the council, and they, the chief executive and director of housing and planning, the directory of safety and security, and so far

we have had their head of communications who came back with a response, and i'm going to share that responds with everybody. meantime, it seems that people's frustration... people are frustrated because no representatives of the council are coming outside. 300 dead ‘ answer council are coming outside. 300 dead — answerus! council are coming outside. 300 dead - answer us! i am not from the council, i am with you. we have a response, and we can share that, but cani response, and we can share that, but can i ask everyone to move out of here, please? as you can see, the organisers of this protest are trying to get some order back. they say they have a response from the council that they want to read to the crowd, but they need to draw eve i’yo ne the crowd, but they need to draw everyone away from the entrance. you can see people are now leaving. it looks like they will move away to hear that response. people say that the council simply hasn't been communicating well enough, hasn't

been acting urgently enough, hasn't been acting urgently enough, hasn't been giving people the response that they need, and hasn't given people they need, and hasn't given people the practical help that they need. you can see, there are posters being handed out, and people are waiting for information about their loved ones, people who are still missing. people still don't have information. it has been peaceful, but we have seen it has been peaceful, but we have seen people entering the council building, which certainly wasn't pa rt building, which certainly wasn't part of the plan. i am here with you, my dear. we took our demands... let him speak, please! we took our

demands to the council, and we expected a response from the chief executive of the council who had failed to turn up. we expected a response from laura johnson, amanda gilland response from laura johnson, amanda gill and anthony redpath. these are directors and chief executives of this council, and they have not... and they have not come out, but provided a written response for us. the written response is as such. if you would like, i will read it out to you. please! martin fitzpatrick, the head of communications for the council, he came back with a response to the five demands i read to you earlier. i'm a member of the public and a family friend of the lady with two children who was on the 24th floor and died. she is a

family friend of mine. thank you for coming. thank you very much! people, please, let's keep calm. you have been amazing. call people in first. can i ask everybody pleased to come down and leave the entrance? please vacate the entrance before we cause another issue. the response from martin fitzpatrick... issue. the response from martin fitzpatrick. . . we

issue. the response from martin fitzpatrick... we cannot hear you. the response from martin fitzpatrick the head of communications for the local council is as such... we placed the demand on the chief executive and the leader of the council or the local mp to come down that they have failed to do so. they provided a written statement in response to the five demands we made earlier, as follows. that the council makes a written commitment on the immediate be housing of all the victims from grenfell tower fire to be relocated within the borough. yes. the responses we plan to house residents of grenfell tower as locally as we can. we way —— may

need help. the council is committed to looking after the immediate and long—term needs of all of the victims of the fire. demand two, the immediate release of funds to cover costs of welfare and losses suffered by the victims. the response from the council, we are already releasing funds to take care of the immediate needs of those affected as well as others, for support. we are absolutely committed to supporting eve i’yo ne absolutely committed to supporting everyone affected in the days, weeks and months ahead, but if you know of individuals orfamilies and months ahead, but if you know of individuals or families who you feel are not getting help, please let us know so we can help them as quickly as possible. we need... we requested

the council to provide the list or number of residents in that tower block. the council has these numbers. however their response to this question was this is not a matter for the council but for the coroner. police and other emergency services. but we understand that this is a distressing time for eve i’yo ne this is a distressing time for everyone affected and we will do all we can with our police colleagues to support people. i asked martin fitzpatrick to give me a number, a fixed number, and he took my number and he's said that he will go u psta i rs and he's said that he will go upstairs and tried to get hold of the number and share it with us today. not 17! i understand that the

response we get from the council is not satisfactory. what about all the babies? the council's response will be published online, however i request or revise to remain cooped until we get a response, a firm response, on that, from the council, on their commitments. please keep calm. the people who have suffered are the victims of this tragedy and they want us to remain calm and keep they want us to remain calm and keep the peace. by q. we have requested

them to come out. we have requested them to come out. we have requested the council senior leaders to come out. they will not do so. can i request... you have been the most amazing people in the whole country, you are those who have been on the streets, who have donated and create the best £5 million pot for those who are suffering, you have been great and amazing, please remain in your greatness. please maintain order and please maintain the peace for everybody. we have centred and still accounts but let us not become disruptive otherwise they will point the finger to you and i. let us remain the amazing people that we are. thank you. we wantjustice!

when do you want it? now! we want justice! there you hear the message loud and clear from this protest. they say they want justice but in practice that means they want funding to be released for the victims, the families of the victims, the families of the victims, the families of the victims, the people who are homeless. they need money, they say they need clothes, they want to know details about exactly how many people lost their lives in this disaster. huge frustration at the amount of time it has taken to confirm the number of deaths in this disaster. why did it take you four

hours to let everybody rescue anybody? at the same time we attempted to rescue our babies and you blocked us and facebook does not lie. i saw the footage. people was running. 0ne lie. i saw the footage. people was running. one of them, a mother, on the ninth, through her baby... give us the ninth, through her baby... give usa the ninth, through her baby... give us a sense the ninth, through her baby... give us a sense of whether people are satisfied with what the biba and have had to save —— what the council have had to save —— what the council have had to say. the responses are fluffy with no concrete commitment. no concrete and servers on numbers for the public. what is it going to take? more than 17 people. i have a

friend. it is those. people had their children's friends staying over. why did notting hill police stop us from saving our community? why did they stop us? why? why? you pushed us away. you blocked us. we watched our loved ones. at half past four in the morning the water was coming on. how dare you. i want you to feel it, all of the police who done that, you have babies' blood on your hands. an emotional protest which a few moments ago lost order for a moment when people went into the folly of the council offices. there was a plea for best to remain orderly and clearly it has got emotions are running high. this has

only been sparked by what happened in this fire this week. a lot of frustrations and tensions that go much wider, it is about the way of life for people here, the way they are greedy by authority. they want to send the message that this disaster has to be a point in time to be defined how people live in this borough and beyond. danjohnson this borough and beyond. dan johnson outside the this borough and beyond. danjohnson outside the tower hall of kensington and chelsea, and q. some real grief, anger, resentment and raw emotion there we could see. we can speak to a member of kensington and chelsea council. councillor robert atkinson joins us on the phone. you are not i think at present inside the tower hall, is that right? no, i am nearby ward

where i am trying to give practical assistance. i do not know if you heard... i have heard some of this... you heard some of the points being made. iam this... you heard some of the points being made. i am sorry to cut across you. people were demanding that survivors be relocated as soon, as near as possible to their houses. they wanted information on the numbers of those deceased that they wa nted numbers of those deceased that they wanted more representation from the council. of course. i can understand perfectly well why this neglected and unlicensed to population are angry, furious, and what has happened. absolutely i understand where they are coming from. it is extremely important the council actually gets a grip of their situation and houses people and

provides information as quickly as possible. one of the points being made is where i card the council leaders? did you feel you have seen enough of them on the ground? no. i do not understand why the council leaders are not addressing this demonstration. what are they doing? they tell me that they are making arrangements, but i think the leadership of the council have a responsibility to speak to and community with its residents. why in your opinion are they not doing so? i think they are understaffed. i have been warning about this for some time. the council has cut down on experienced... i do not think they can cope with this overwhelming

situation but they should be calling in from nearby boroughs help. you yourself, you are in your words, what are you doing? are you making inquiries about why some people have been sent back to adjoining buildings which do not have hot water as a result of the fire. i have practical problems of when to get taught water to people who luckily do have a home to return to. overall, as the voice from within the council, what would you charge the council, what would you charge the leadership to do? get a grip and prioritise and accept help from other councils and other agencies. you will not be able to see this but we are still looking at pictures from outside kensington and chelsea

tower hall. there is a big crowd. they are quiet and peaceful but clearly not going to leave until they get something more than a written statement. we are looking at some movement, design clear whether people are trying to get back into the council or not. they are not going to move. you talk about getting a grip but do you mean presentation layer of in terms of action? urgent action and communication with residents, that is what they are actually doing. it is what they are actually doing. it is up to the local authority to provide leadership. robert atkinson, many thanks. a counsellor at kensington and chelsea. another extremely heated and fraught day as

a result of this terrible tragedy in west london. clearly many questions still unanswered and people becoming very wary, very frustrated and letting emotions boil over. for the time being, i will hand back to you in the studio. we are going to stay watching what is happening outside the building for kensington and chelsea are because what we are seeing is hundreds of people standing outside demanding some sort of response from the council. what we are not seeing from our camera position, no police seem to be present, no one from the council seeming to be present, and this demonstration very much on its own and every now and then the anger seems to spill over as people once again lunch for the door. they got

in early and were asked to leave. there is a private function on. every now and then there seems to be is sense of trouble. danjohnson is there, what is going on? there seems to bea there, what is going on? there seems to be a bit ofa there, what is going on? there seems to be a bit of a debate about exactly what this code is going to do next. some people are calling for the crowd to go back into the council offices to demand a response from the council's senior leaders. others are taking the microphone and pleading with people to remain calm, to keep order, to remain here and await a further response from the council, but it is clear they are not happy with a written response that was handed to the organisers of this protest about ten or 15 minutes ago. that was read to the crowd who listened quietly but a great number of people are not happy with that response. this is built on a frustration that has grown since that fire happened about the way the

council communicates with people and thatis council communicates with people and that is not just council communicates with people and that is notjust in the aftermath of this disaster. there are obviously wider issues about the relationship that this council has with some of the people in some of its communities. they feel that they have been let down very badly and that they are not properly represented by those in authority in this borough. we were looking at pictures from inside. taken a few moments ago. there were clearly police there trying to get people to move back out. right. the frustration is that there is nobody from the council telling anybody anything. no. there are some staff in the building and we have seen some of them at the windows of the upperfloors. some of them at the windows of the upper floors. that has only done more to incense the crowd, that they know there are people in this offers you are supposed to be working on

their behalf who are putting effort into responding to this disaster but they are clearly not satisfied with they are clearly not satisfied with the response we have had. if there are policed by the door they are the only officers here at this protest was completely unpoliced at the start and there was a plea from the organisers that the beginning for this not to be a protest about hate oi’ this not to be a protest about hate or violent disorder and that was respected by most of the people here. a very tricky situation for the council and the police. tensions are obviously running very high. people are very emotional understandably after what has happened this week, with the sorts of issues they are having to deal with. these are moments ago inside kensington borough council. people trying to get up those stairs. police and security bringing them back down. scuffles as people tried to break through the police cordon

and it looks as though a couple of people have managed to get through. it is chaotic. what strikes me as the media knew this march was going to happen, the council and the police now, and yet they seem i'm prepared. —— not prepared. police now, and yet they seem i'm prepared. -- not prepared. yes, this was publicised and organised through facebook, that is where we heard about it. that is how we know to be here at the pm outside the town hall at the council offices and to start with there was only a very small crowd, addressed initially by lily allen who lives close to this borough. the numbers have grown, the anger has grown, and they are determined to get their message through to the council one way or another. principal grief is that they want to be re—housed. this is they want to be re—housed. this is the real anger. yes. that seems to

be everyone's priority to make sure that those who have been left homeless by this disaster have somewhere to stay and the men tonight, and they do not mean a leisure centre floor. they want to see proper temporary accommodation offered straightaway. we know there are families who have not had contact with the council to back or three days on. that is one source of frustration. they want assurance that in the longer term those who have been made homeless will get proper housing in this borough so they do not have to meet the might move away from their friends and relatives. the immediate request is greater urgency about confirming the numbers and identities of the people who have died in this disaster. they say the fact that at this stage the official confirmation is that 17 have died when they know it is much higher than that according to them. people here have relatives they know

are dead and yet that has not been confirmed by the other warranties. they say that is theirs respectful to those people because they say without that confirmation they cannot get on and leave, they cannot get into the next phase of trying to deal with what they have had to go through this week. the authorities have a really tough job. they have a complex crime scene to investigate because there is a criminal investigation as well as the fire service investigation into how the fire started and spread so quickly. the other warranties have to do their difficult work that people feel it has been too slow and there has not been enough communication is specially with the beagle involved, the relatives of the victims who still do not have confirmation of exactly how many people have died and who they were. take stock. we will let the cameraman stay with these pictures. i want to bring in these pictures. i want to bring in the head of research at the charity

shelter. this issue of housing is crucial. i am sure your not surprised that the level of anger we are seeing. no. housing in london is a lwa ys are seeing. no. housing in london is always an incredibly fraught situation. it is very hard to be housed within london so people are naturally concerned that so many people have been made homeless tragically because of the fire they do not know what is going to happen them. the local authority is under very clearly gold jetted to rehouse eve ryo ne very clearly gold jetted to rehouse everyone who has lost their home because of the fire and they should because of the fire and they should be trying to be housed them within the area as far as possible. because kensington and chelsea is so expensive they struggled to do that normally. last year they were moving three quarters of the homeless families out of borough. yesterday he had a very clear statement from the housing minister and the prime minister that they want people who have lost their homes because of the

fire to be re—housed locally and we would certainly want the council to follow through with that and that might mean the national government having to step up and support them with funds because it is going to be very difficult to find temporary accommodation and permanent homes for people. but i think all of us can agree that having lost everything, having seen the distressing scenes they have gone through, it is not fair to ask people who have lost everything to pay the price for london housing failures as well, so we want the council to be housing people be locally —— locally. this is an extremely stressful time for people and that is why we are getting our advisers from shelter on the ground next week and we have extended the opening hours of ireland and advice line over the weekend goes we want eve ryo ne line over the weekend goes we want everyone who has been affected by the fire to know that they can come to us for help and we will help them

steer through what is a very complicated very stressful process. even in normal times applying as homeless. it is important that people know there's someone on their side they can turn to because it is going to be a tough with the council to find homes for people. you work for a ritzy, shelter, which deals with homeless people, we are talking about the richest borough in the richest city in this country and there is a demonstration because people do not know where they are going to sleep tonight. what has brought us to this point? why is there not a housing policy where boroughs like kensington and chelsea can say there is space and we will put you there and we will have you there within the next month? can you still hear me? kate, are you still there? you cut out. here we are in

20s of unseen in the richest borough of london with a demonstration like this with people wanting somewhere they can call home after a disaster like this then i am wondering what sort of housing policy we have that has led to this. the level of anger we are seeing is notjust because of the events on wednesday night. people feel that there has been a lack of focus on social housing. we have been saying for years we have not been building generally affordable homes that people need. the residents of the tower feel their concerns were not listened to about fire safety. people know that being made homeless in london is terrifying. you cannot expect that the council will rehouse you locally and we are seeing far too many families being moved out of london and within that context people are angry. they are concerned that not only have they lost everything in

the fire, they are now going to be moved away from their community. that is why it is important that the government back up this pledge they made to rehouse people locally with the money because the council by themselves are not going to be able to do it. thank u. dan johnson is still outside kensington city hall. what is happening? there is a certain amount of confusion here. some people are determined to go backin some people are determined to go back in the building and take their message directly to the council officials. others are pleading with the crowd to remain calm to avoid any sort of disorder or violence and to keep back. we can hear people, some of them banging on the windows of the council offices. they seem to be struggling to work out exactly

what they want to do. they clearly have a message and they are very strong in their belief that this message needs to be taken directly to the council. there is something ofa to the council. there is something of a stand—off as they try to agree the best way forward. some people inciting the crowd to go towards the building, others pleading with people to stay back and stay calm. do we know how many people are still inside? i do not. i do not have a clear view from here but i would say certainly when i was closer to the door earlier there were more than 50 or 100 people who got through the doors and into the folly and some had started going up the stairs. i do not know how the staff in their... we want answers! these people are here... this is

their voice. they are entitled to a voice. we are entitled to an opinion. if you do not want to talk to me... as it come to this? two people being so angry? what do you think the reason is? why do you think the reason is? why do you think these people here? you have the news. and so your own question. it is not for me to speak for you.” never came here as a messenger. answer me. i never asked you to cover my protest. why do you think they are here? clearly you are upset. why ask me a stupid question.

a lot of frustration, be both very angry and trying to determine exactly what they should do next. danjohnson exactly what they should do next. dan johnson outside the exactly what they should do next. danjohnson outside the royal borough of kensington and chelsea headquarters. this is the view from the skies. hundreds of people gathering outside the town hall. initially an ordered demonstration, people walking up the steps to the front door then some scuffles as doors were opened and people ran through those open doors trying to get into the building. this is what happened at the council headquarters a short time ago. a number of police and security we believe were inside. some were inside trying to get upstairs. the doors were closed. scuffles as others tried to get into the building. anger overflowing.

using another door to get in. as far as we know most have left the building having been asked to do so by organisers of the protest. score is surging towards the building entrances elsewhere. this is the scene inside the town hall building. he seeming lack of security, certainly lack of council representation, which added to the anger of those gathered outside the royal borough of kensington and chelsea headquarters. a council spokesman initially declining to comment on the action. a refusal to comment on the action. a refusal to comment that we are seeing a lot of kensington and chelsea at the moment. these are the pictures live above the royal borough of kensington and chelsea headquarters. the demonstration continues. we will

have continuing coverage here on bbc news. today at five — i'm reeta chakrabarti in west london — where police have confirmed 30 people are now known to have died in the grenfell tower inferno. the bbc understands more than 70 people may be dead or missing in total. the cause of the fire is still unknown. the police have taken the lead in the investigation and if criminal offences have been committed it's us who will investigate that. frustration and anger at a rally outside kensington town hall — as crowds gather to add their voice to growing calls for answers and justice. it looks like people are actually trying to get in to the council... to make their point directly. the queen and prince william visit a relief centre where some of the hundreds left homeless are staying