#GreatGetTogether: Jo Cox and Grenfell Tower victims remembered at community Iftar
#GreatGetTogether: Jo Cox and Grenfell Tower victims remembered at community Iftar
The ‘Syrian Refugee Community Iftar’ was a part of the #GreatGetTogether campaign, a series of parties across the UK, aimed at improving community cohesion.
2 min read
The Syrian community expressed their sympathies to the victims of the Grenfell tower fire [AFP]
A community iftar organized by the Syrian community in London on Saturday remembered MP Jo Cox as well as the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire.
The 'Syrian Refugee Community Iftar' was part of the #GreatGetTogether campaign an estimated 120,000 events are taking place throughout the UK one year after the killing of Mrs Cox by rightwing extremist Thomas Meir.
The campaign was inspired by Mrs Cox's maiden speech in Parliament, in which she said "we have more in common than that which divides us".
The event was also part of Refugee Week, the UK's largest festival 'celebrating the contribution of refugees'.
But the iftar was notably marked by the absence of one of the Syrian community's brightest: 23 year old refugee Mohammad Alhajali.
A civil engineering student at the University of West London, Mohammad Alhajali, was the first named victim of the fire.
Alhajali was supposed to be serving food at the Iftar.
Originally from the Syrian town of Daraa, the symbolic birthplace of the Syrian revolution, Alhajali escaped to London with his brother three years ago where they received asylum.
The cruel irony was not lost on anyone. Alhajali fled the Assad regime only to die in a fire that many believe could have been prevented in London.
"'He survived Assad only to be killed in a tower block in London", Abdullah Hourani, a friend of the brothers, told The Telegraph.
Activists with the Syria Solidarity Campaign took turns remembering him. They described him as a gentle soul who was a good friend to many.
"[Mohammad] is missed, but he will never be forgotten" Abdulaziz Almashi, co-founder of the Syria Solidarity Campaign, said before reminding the audience of Cox's legacy.
"We have to defeat the narrative of those who want to divide us."
It was also announced that Alhajali's family received emergency visas to come to the UK for his funeral following a petition signed by thousands.
The rest of the evening included a viewing of the BBC Two documentary 'Exodus: Our Journey to Europe' as well as speakers Mike Buckley, Head of Faith Engagement at the Jo Cox Foundation, Baraa Ehssan Kouja, a Syrian refugee and activist, and Rachel Mantell from the NGO 'Refugees at Home'.
