London united

London tube returned to normal

On Thursday, July 7, over 50 Londoners died and 700 were injured in a horrific attack on our city including my local tube station, Edgware Road. On July 21, bombers tried again but failed. The day after we had a very nervous Friday morning which set the climate to the tragic shooting of Jean Charles de Menzes.

These are such very different events it is hard to know how to reconcile them. But London in its inimitable fashion has done exactly that.

London has got on with the business of being London -- of being a place where people, no matter what their backgrounds or values, will come to seek a better life for themselves and their families, respecting and valuing the differences and opportunities that London offers them. Jean Charles de Menzes himself came to London to work and save enough to set up a cattle ranch in Brazil.

These two very different events have two things in common. Both will affect London for years to come in such a myriad of ways that we are only now starting to understand what they might be.

And both showed that London has a huge strength that comes from our very diversity and our tolerance that is a sign of great hope for the future.

The bombings of 7/7 have had a deep effect on London. We know that people have been affected here in Westminster, particularly in the attack on Edgware Road tube station, and our thoughts are with them during this difficult time.

One week on from 7/7, a hush fell over Central London as Londoners stood side by side amongst the floral tributes and messages during two minute's silence to honour the dead.

If anything positive is to come out of these terrible events, then it will be the resolve Londoners have shown in refusing to allow terrorism to impinge on how they live their lives. This has been evident in the way the ethnically diverse communities around Edgware Road -- the Arab street of London -- have stood together in the wake of the attacks.

In the joy Londoners showed at winning the Olympic bid, and in the determination shown to resist terror and prejudice, London's true strength is shining through.

The next few months will be challenging for us all as London absorbs these momentous events, with the investigation into the tragic shooting and civic leaders keeping an eye on the state of community relations. But Londoners' early response has shown that we respect each other because of our differences and despite them. This is why so many people, from all over the world, choose to make London their home in the first place. And this is why terrorism will not defeat us.

This was illustrated well at the Notting Hill carnival this past weekend. Three quarters of a million people united at the Notting Hill carnival to give a defiant message, London is back in business. The massive street party is proof that the capital is unbowed by the July 7 and July 21 attacks. The joyous atmosphere was an expression of unity in London.

London united, one world in one city. And a London united can win accolades like the Olympics.

Cllr Murad Qureshi is a London Assembly Member.