At one minute past 7pm on Friday, 9th February 1996 a massive boom swirled round the Isle of Dogs – a noise few residents had heard before. Residents felt their blocks sway. Looking out the window, residents saw a swirl of smoke wafting up from… was it Canary Wharf? It didn’t quite look like it was…
It turned out a lorry parked near South Quay DLR station had exploded. It was the South Quay Bomb.
Two people lost their lives – Inam Bashir and John Jeffries, who were finishing up in the newsagents where they worked. There had been a bomb warning, and some evacuation had taken place – but the warning was not precise enough and the police not experienced enough to evacuate enough people from enough places. At first it was thought that there had been no fatalities, but the bodies were discovered hours later.
Several people were injured – some very badly. “It is a day East London will never forget. I was cleaning the toilets in the Bank and the ceiling tiles came crushing down on my head. I was petrified. The boys in the newspaper shop were loved by all who know them. I still think of them,” said Joyce Brown, a cleaner at the Midland Bank, as she remembered the day.
Many more were inconvenienced. Fortunately, the DLR had been halted, so there was no accident involving a train on an elevated track. The police soon had the Island shut down, though: no transport whatsoever was allowed to drive on to the Island, and the DLR stayed shut. Several commuters, arriving home later than usual because they had been out for an end of the week drink after work, or just because the shut DLR had delayed their return to E14, had to walk home. It was strange to see the long lines of commuters trudging down Manchester and Westferry Roads, making it feel like one of those “end of the world” films.
On a less important note, the bomb damaged property too. The Barkantine estate on the Isle of Dogs was the worst affected – ending up knee deep in glass which fell from tower block windows. The estate was still owned and managed by the Council in those days: caretakers were out in force the next day to clean up in daylight.
Lantern House in Alpha Grove didn’t make it: the building had been in a direct line of the blast and its foundations were found to be cracked and unsafe. The building was evacuated and eventually knocked down and replaced. Most of the damage, and most of the repair, was elsewhere on the Barkantine – though there was also damage on St John’s estate, with cracks developing in blocks on Chipka Street.
The business community of Canary Wharf and Government acted quickly to plug the security loopholes. Tower Hamlets Council was “invited” to pay for a “Ring of Steel” which was placed around Canary Wharf. The Council responded that local taxpayers should not have to subsidise Canary Wharf’s security, not least because it had not had any role in the Irish Question which had prompted the attack. The Government offered a reduction in the Council’s contribution. The Council stood firm. The Government suggested that it might find it difficult to allow an award of capital for housing in Bethnal Green to stand if the Council did not contribute. The Council was very committed to the capital works in Bethnal Green.
The “Ring of Steel” turned out to be two police kiosks, one on each of the two main roads leading onto the Island, and enough staff to stop and search virtually every vehicle driving on and off the Island. Locals looked on in amazement, and pointed out that any future bombers would have to take the DLR – or the Greenwich foot tunnel. There were echoes of this approach to security five years later, when the USA – with its massive armed forces and independent nuclear deterrent – suffered the worst attack on its own soil in its short history… from a small group of men who boarded planes, armed with knives.
During the following months, the police made it down onto the Island to stop and search, in case anyone had made it through the Ring of Steel. On the Samuda estate, one young man, apparently the owner of an admittedly rather dodgy looking van was surrounded by nine – nine! – police officers armed with machine guns, while other residents walked by, stepping round the police officers. Ireland had indeed come to the Island. The two kiosks remain and are used occasionally. Other kiosks accommodate security personnel guarding the minor roads that now lead into Canary Wharf – and subsequent events have elevated the population to a higher level of fear and watchfulness across the capital.
To mark the anniversary, the Docklands Victims Association (DVA) held a multi-faith memorial service for the victims of the South Quay attack and of all other acts of terrorism across the globe. Representatives of the emergency services and local, national and international politicians were invited to attend. Twenty white doves were to be released as a symbol of peace and the desire of all present, and many others, to end all terrorist violence throughout the world.
For some, the South Quay bomb has faded into history, or is something they think about occasionally as they travel through the reconstructed DLR station. Others have been more deeply affected, and they have the last word.
“I can’t believe it is 20 years since the IRA with the help of Gaddafi blew up the London Docklands. It only seems like yesterday that I was trying to dig my way out my way out of the rubble. I still deeply miss my friends Inam and JJ.” Jonathan Ganesh, injured during the Docklands Attack and now President of the DVA
“It will be very sad and heartbreaking to attend my son’s and John’s memorial service. I’m so touched that after 20 year the community has never forgotten my poor son and his friend John. It breaks my heart that terrorists still kill innocent children” Hamida Bashir, mother of Inam Bashir
•Docklands Victims Association (DVA), 80 EastWay, London E9 5JH; tel. 07949-030 540
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