Warwick Northern Society organises a minute’s silence for Manchester victims

Warwick’s Northern Society organised a minute’s silence for the victims of the attack at Manchester, which took place yesterday at 5pm in the piazza.

On the evening of Monday 23 May, a bomb packed with nuts and bolts was detonated near the foyer of an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena, killing 22 people. Thousands of fans and families were caught up in the explosion.

Britain is now on a critical terror alert and thousands of troops have been deployed to bolster police forces. Four people have been arrested, including three men in south Manchester.

Many Warwick students gathered together on Tuesday evening for a minute’s silence to pay their respects to those who suffered and lost their lives in the attack.

John Butler, president of Warwick’s Northern Society said: “After last night’s events, I felt pretty useless and quite simply wanted to be home with people from the North West. Two of the victims were from the same village as me. I just wanted to give myself and other people the opportunity to show solidarity with the victims in Manchester.”

Ruth Andrew, second-year American studies student and Sadie Andrew, a final-year History and Sociology student were both shocked to hear the news.

Ruth said: “Though we were not directly related to anyone in Manchester, we came to show respect and reflect on what had happened.”

The Students’ Union published a statement in which they said: “On behalf of the entire officer and staff team at Warwick SU, we wish to extend our deepest condolences to all those affected by last night’s tragic events in Manchester.

“We also wish to stress that now is the time for unity and healing, rather than division – and, to that end, it had been heartening to see so many outpourings of support both within the city and from the wider UK community.”