The bombs, detonated entirely at random, killed 52 innocent people and injured 700 others. It was a gratuitous act, pointless and ultimately futile: nothing was gained and only damage was done.
Although the perpetrators claimed to act in the name of Islam, their victims included Muslims who don’t have anything in common with their point of view. To add insult to injury, as one Muslim survivor pointed out in the Guardian, there is a tendency to treat all Muslims as somehow associated with the guilt of that day, which is particularly hard when one is in fact a victim.
The most awful scenes from the day were naturally of blood-soaked remains or weeping survivors. However, for personal reasons I’m particularly struck by a grainy, indistinct image from a surveillance camera, of a fly-blown, unsightly car park.
That’s because it shows the open parking area outside Luton station. Which was where the bombers left their cars before heading for London, on 7 July 2005.
Surveillance camera shot of the bombers' two cars at Luton station |
Another surveillance camera shot: the bombers enter Luton station Travelling to London to end their own lives while killing 52 innocent civilians and injuring 700 others |
The place doesn’t look anything like it did then. It’s hardly become breathtakingly attractive – it’s an open-air bus station – but at least it isn’t quite as run down as it was. Not quite as dishevelled. Not quite as appropriate a setting for such shameful deeds.
The same area today. Hardly a scene of beauty, but somewhat less desolate |
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