Hundreds of Oxford students joined faith leaders and local residents on Tuesday evening to remember the victims of Monday’s horrific terror attack in Manchester which claimed the lives of 22 concert-goers, many of them young children.
Around 100 students attended a vigil outside the Radcliffe Camera, organised by OUSU, to “stand with Manchester”.
Several students, some wearing “I heart Manchester” t-shirts and visibly emotional, spoke at the event, which took place less than 24 hours after a suicide bomber detonated an improvised explosive device at an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena.
They had come to express their “love and solidarity,” as Katt Walton, a Christ Church student who is from Manchester, said in a speech outside the Rad Cam.
“(We’re) sending out our condolences to the people who have lost loved ones, friends and family, especially as it was an event which was supposed to be a really fun night (and) a lot of younger kids went,” she later told Cherwell.
“It’s really important to remember that this wasn’t a godly act, it isn’t down to Islam, and that this isn’t a time for Islamaphobia to come out of the woodwork. (Terrorism) aims to divide and conquer and the best thing we can do is stand together,” Walton added.
In a further vigil on Cornmarket, faith leaders from the city’s major denominations — Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu — gathered to send their “prayers for Manchester”. Candles were lit and around 50 people took part in a minute silence, remembering the victims of an attack which the Prime Minister Theresa May has described as “cowardly” and “sickening”.
“We hope to show unity and solidarity, and that no terrorist can divide us,” said Dr Sheik Ramzy, Director of the Oxford Islamic Information Centre and a member of the Muslim Council of Britain.
Dr Ramzy, holding a sign reading “We stand with Manchester”, told Cherwell: “We are all together as one family, one British family, to stand against any terror, and we shall win.”
Addressing the crowd outside the Carfax Tower, Bede Gerrard, Ecumenical Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, said: “We are here as human beings, as citizens of Oxford and as citizens of this country. We want to be a country where peace is sovereign.”
“As people of faith we should embrace our diversity,” he added, speaking to Cherwell.
“Religion is so often put forward as something that divides people. And it can do, but it’s not meant to. I think we’re trying to show that together we are stronger than apart.”
The two events follow a major vigil in Manchester’s Albert Square on Tuesday evening to remember the victims of the atrocity. Outside the Rad Cam, students — including finalists wearing full subfusc, and others in their religious dress — stood in silence for a minute to show their defiance to terror.
Orla White, the OUSU Women VP, told Cherwell: “We were hoping to show solidarity with Manchester, and to be led by students who are from Manchester, to provide a space for people to come together and respond to a really horrible tragedy.”
As the vigil ended, the crowd sang a rendition of the Manchester band Oasis’ song ‘Wonderwall’, reading the words from lyric sheets handed out by student union organisers: “And all the roads we have to walk are winding / And all the lights that lead us there are blinding”.
At one point, an irritated student stuck his head out from a Bodleian Library window above to shout: “Don’t you realise you are right outside a library?”
The crowd, with tears and smiles on their faces, sang louder.
