7/7 bombing memorial in Hyde Park, Leeds
By Hayley Longster
The 10th anniversary of the 7/7 bombings will bring communities from across Leeds together in a new action group, which aims to unite all faiths and backgrounds.
Leeds Citizens group will be launched at Elland Road stadium today (Tuesday), not far from where two of the bombers, Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, grew up in Beeston.
The launch event follows the ‘Peace Journey’, in which 15 young people from Leeds aged 16-25 visited the Hyde Park 7/7 memorial in an attempt to ‘retrace and replace’ the fateful steps taken by the bombers as they made their way to London to commit the atrocity.
The young people who made the journey, dubbed Peace Ambassadors, will give a talk at the event to a predicted audience of several hundred people.
Tom Chigbo, one of the founding members of Leeds Citizens, said on Radio Leeds on Sunday morning: “These young people are really determined not to be defined by the past and to work together to achieve change in the future. They are committed to understanding each others’ different faiths and backgrounds.”
Over the last six months the group has been listening to different groups in consultation meetings and is now ready to lay out its agenda for change at its official launch.
So far, topics they will work on include the living wage, improving buses and transport services around Leeds, and also addressing mental health service provision across the city.