7/7 bombings: 10th anniversary of attacks marked with Hyde Park memorial service

Britain observed minute’s silence to mark the 10th anniversary of atrocity in which 52 people were murdered and hundreds more injured when four suicide bombers attacked London’s transport network

 

Flowers are laid in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack in London. Photograph: Mike Kemp/In Pictures/Corbis

Closing summary

Prince William pays his respects at the memorial to victims of the 7 July 2005 bombings in Hyde Park Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

Survivors, the bereaved, royalty, politicians and religious leaders came together to mark the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 bombings.
On tube station platforms, under cloudy skies in Hyde Park and beneath the decorated dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, they paid their respects to the 52 innocent victims of the devastating terrorist attack a decade ago.
A minute of silence was observed nationwide, prayers and hymns were heard at St Paul’s and later in the day, a less formal memorial took place at Hyde Park, where a rock choir sang and Prince William laid a wreath.
Tube trains and buses stopped as the silence was observed, while tennis was delayed at Wimbledon.
The events come just four days after a similar period of quiet was held a week on from the Tunisian beach massacre, in which 30 Britons were murdered.
Ten years ago suicide bombers carried out the single worst terrorist atrocity on British soil when they attacked London’s transport system.
Earlier, services were held at the exact time when London came under attack ten years ago.
Prime Minister David Cameron and London mayor Boris Johnson laid wreaths at the permanent memorial to the 52 people killed at 8.50am.
In a note attached to his wreath, Mr Cameron wrote: “To the victims of terrorism in London 10 years ago today. We grieve your loss and will honour your memory for ever.”
As 7 July 2005 dawned, Prime minister Tony Blair and the Queen were among those leading celebrations after London’s Olympic bid emerged victorious.
But Mohammed Sidique Khan, 30, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, Hasib Hussain, 18, and Jermaine Lindsay, 19, had already set in motion devastating plans that bring the jubilant atmosphere to an end.
The four men met at Luton station that morning where they took a train to King’s Cross in London. They embraced and separated to carry out their deadly missions.
Within three minutes of 8.50am, Tanweer detonated his bomb at Aldgate, Khan set his device off at Edgware Road and Lindsay blew himself up between King’s Cross and Russell Square.
Hussain detonated his device on board the number 30 bus at Tavistock Square at 9.47am.
Twenty-six died in the bombing at Russell Square on the Piccadilly line, six in the bombing at Edgware Road on the Circle Line, seven in the bombing at Aldgate on the Circle Line and 13 in the bombing on the number 30 bus at Tavistock Square. Hundreds more were injured.
That’s all for the live coverage of the 7/7 memorial events. Thanks for joining us.

Carmen Fishwick

Richard South, who was on the Piccadilly Line train that was hit in the 7/7 bombings, described why he attended the memorial at Hyde Park.

I’ve never made it to a memorial until today. I feel guilty, you know, I got off lightly. But I thought that this is a good year to come. I’m really glad I’m here. It’s pretty quiet, but it’s not downbeat. There’s a good atmosphere. I guess there’s a sense of togetherness and community spirit. There’s an over-50s all female rock choir here. It makes it a lot less somber and much more a celebration of the lives of the victims.
I haven’t wanted to feel sorry for myself, and I think I always tried to downplay it. It was actually not for another seven years, at the opening ceremony of the Olympics, when it hit me the hardest. I was at home watching on TV, and as tributes were paid to the victims, I just burst into tears. It took me by surprise, but I didn’t over-analyse too much. Perhaps I should have. I just thought about the victims, and the victims’ families, and wished that this terrible thing had not happened to them. That I’d been able to do more to help.

South sent a full account of what he experienced on the day to GuardianWitness. Here’s an extract:

It had been about ten to nine and I’d been travelling my usual route to work on the southbound Piccadilly line. Suddenly, there was a loud pop and the train came to a sudden, violent halt. The lights went out instantly and the packed carriage had begun to rapidly fill with smoke. “We’re all going to die,” she had said. My fellow commuters and I looked around at each other. There was confusion and no real sense of what had just happened – that would come later – all we knew was that if the smoke continued to pour in at the rate it was, we’d be in serious trouble.

15:31

Survivors address 7/7 memorial service at Hyde Park

Alexandra Topping

 Mourners attend a memorial event to victims of the 7 July 2005 London bombings at the memorial in Hyde Park Photograph: Peter Nicholls/REUTERS

Survivors, families of those that died and representatives of the emergency services that leapt to their aid gathered at Hyde Park on the tenth anniversary of the 7/7 bombings for a moving and intimate memorial service.
With the pillars representing the 52 lost lives casting a shadow in the sunlight in front of them, families paid tribute to their loved ones while survivors spoke of their memories of that day.
Paul Dadge, who became synonymous of the bravery shown by normal people that day after he was pictured helping a survivor with a mask over their face, said he “like many others that day followed the instinct to help.”
After the image was wildly circulated he admitted he had felt “overwhelming guilt that there was not more I could have done.”
Survivor Emma Craig, who was only 14 and on her way to work experience when the bomb exploded recalled her terror of stepping on electrified tracks. When she managed to get through to her mother, she recalled her saying: “Sugar. I’m on my way.” In a moving speech, where she struggled to hold back tears she said: “People say it didn’t break us. It didn’t break London, but it did break some of us.”
Tracy Russell, a London ambulance service worker said she remembered how her crew self deployed to Russell Square. “This is a day which I never wish to know again,” she said.
The Duke of Cambridge was among those who laid flowers at the memorial for the 52 who died in the 7/7 bombings. He followed families and survivors who laid a single yellow gerbera, a symbol of hope.