By Gracie Mair
One year on, the CLV Phoenix remembers the victims of the Manchester Arena terror attack.
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Please be warned that this article contains themes that may be upsetting and links to suicide.
One year ago today, Manchester Arena was the site of a suicide bombing during an Ariana Grande concert that resulted in the deaths of 22 innocent people, with ten of them under the age of 20 years old. The youngest casualty of this horrific act was only an 8 year old girl, with the oldest being a 51 year old woman. As a result, 512 concert-goers had injuries varying in severity, and the bomber in question had died in the process, the casualty number going up by one. Altogether 14,200 people had attended well-known artist Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman Tour.
The attacker was identified as 22 year old Salman Ramadan Abedi. Abedi was known by police for petty crimes in the past, and yet pulled off the deadliest terrorist attack in UK history since the London 2005 bombings. He was not known by police for radical views, but people who knew Abedi described him as ‘super religious’ as he supported movements and extremist groups such as ISIS and Ansar al-Sharia. These actions and his excessive drinking & smoking led to him being banned from a mosque before MI5 investigated claims that he was planning something terrible. After the attack, police found out that he had sourced the components of the bomb himself, and had largely acted alone, whilst also stating that many people knew what he may do. Abedi was known for being a person that acted upon his thoughts, and had no filter, which may have played a part in this attack.
How did people react? Ariana Grande issued a statement after the attack took place via Twitter that she was "broken”, and offered to help all the victims and those affected by the attack. The public were distraught, and made Grande’s tweet the most liked of all time to show their support. Grande then held another concert called One Love to show support to the families of victims, where she was accompanied by various artists such as Coldplay, Katy Perry, Robbie Williams, Little Mix and Justin Bieber.
Prime Minister Theresa May also responded to this attack, condemning the act and chairing an emergency meeting of the COBRA committee that day. She also raised the UK’s Threat Level from severe to critical for the first time in ten years.
92 states / entities responded to the attack with their condolences, along with 11 international bodies and Taiwan, Somaliland, Rojava and Northern Cyprus.
Many people are now asking what has been done since the attack and what have its effects upon the UK and wider world been? In the following month, hate crimes linked with Islamophobia rose by 500% in Greater Manchester, but soon returned back to similar levels than before the attack. Security measures were increased all across the country, and even now are there changes in how we see the world today. On 24th January 2018, prime minister Theresa May announced that Manchester would receive an extra £13 million from the government and on 30 January 2018 a homeless man who stole from victims of the attack was jailed for four years and three months.
Today, there will be more than 80 different choirs coming together to sing with thousands of people expected to join in. Led by Dan McDwyer, it will be an emotional day for us all.
All at the CLV Phoenix share our condolences with the victims and their families, and hope for a brighter future.
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