Video of U.K. partygoers burning Grenfell Tower effigy prompts 6 arrests - Action News
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Video of U.K. partygoers burning Grenfell Tower effigy prompts 6 arrests

British police have arrested six men after a video was posted on the internet that showed men mocking the deadly Grenfell Tower blaze by burning an effigy of the building as part of Guy Fawkes Night celebrations.

British PM calls the act 'utterly unacceptable'

People place a model of Grenfell Tower onto a bonfire in London, in a screen grab taken from video made available on Tuesday. (Associated Press)

British police have arrested six men after a video was posted on the internet that showed men mocking the deadly Grenfell Tower blaze by burning an effigy of the building as part of Guy FawkesNight celebrations.

The menwere released on Tuesday, but remain under investigation, according to a police statement issued late in the day.

The video, which appeared on social media, showed a cardboard model of the tower with cut-outs of residents in the windows being set alight on a bonfire while those watching laughed and made jokes.

Grenfell Tower, a social housing block that was home to a close-knit, ethnically diverse community, was engulfed by flames in the middle of the night of June 14, 2017, killing 72people in the country's deadliest domestic fire since the Second World War.

"To disrespect those who lost their lives at Grenfell Tower, as well as their families and loved ones, is utterly unacceptable," Prime Minister Theresa May said on Twitter.

KhadijahMamudu, whose mother and younger brother escaped the deadly firestorm, called the burning of the model a "vileact."

Police said five men had been arrested on suspicion of a public order offence after turning themselves in ata police station in south London on Monday.A sixth man handed himself in to police on Tuesday.

The men, who range in age from 19 to 55, have not been charged.

Across Britain in early November, towns and villages hold annual firework parties and burn effigies of Guy Fawkes, the Roman Catholic plotter who tried to blow up Parliament in 1605.

Larger celebrations often burn celebrity figures with effigies of flamboyant ex-foreign secretary Boris Johnson being torched at a number of events this year while previous targets have included U.S. President Donald Trump.

With files from The Associated Press