London marks first anniversary of July 7 bombings

There will be tight security across the capital, with extra officers drafted in amid fears that terrorist plotters could try to exploit the symbolism of the day by mounting another attack.

Britain is expected to come to a standstill for the two minute silence, at midday, which forms the centrepiece of today’s memorial programme.

The emergence yesterday of Shehzad Tanweer’s chilling last testament had threatened to cast a shadow over the anniversary, but the victims’ families have vowed to forget about the video as they prepare to honour their loved ones.

In the tape, 22-year-old Tanweer, who killed seven innocent people on a Tube close to Aldgate station, warned that last year’s bombings were “only the beginning” of a campaign of terror.

But Grahame Russell, who lost his 28-year-old son Philip in the Tavistock Square bus blast, said: “We will not even think about it. It will be consigned to the place it should be consigned to, which is the dustbin.”

The commemorative events will start at King’s Cross station, from where the four bombers fanned out after arriving in London on the Thameslink service from Luton.

:: At 8.50am, the time when the three Tube bombs exploded, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, London Mayor Ken Livingstone and Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy will lay flowers at the station.

:: At 9.47am, Mr Livingstone and Mr Hendy will lay flowers in Tavistock Square at the same time and place where Hasib Hussain detonated his rucksack bomb on a bus.

:: At 11.30am, memorial plaques will be unveiled at five locations: Tavistock Square, the site of the bus bombing; Aldgate station, where Shehzad Tanweer detonated his bomb; Edgware Road, where Mohammed Sidique Khan detonated his; and at King’s Cross and Russell Square stations – between which Jermaine Lindsay exploded his device.

:: At midday, there will be a two-minute silence across the country.

Survivors will carry out their own vigil at each station after the bereaved have paid their respects.

Later in the afternoon, the bereaved families will attend a private ceremony at the Museum of London to lay a book of tributes before a service at St Ethelburga’s Church in the City of London.

More than 1,000 people are then expected at The Regent’s Park ceremony – the highest-profile event of the day. It starts with a 30 minute service at 6pm.

There will be readings by relatives of the victims, while the names of all those who died in the attacks will be read by BBC newsreader Peter Donaldson.

The London Gospel Choir will sing Something Inside So Strong, Bridge Over Troubled Water and Lean On Me, before Tessa Jowell closes the service.

The centrepiece of the event will be a giant floral tribute, 12 metres across, in the shape of a flower with seven petals.

From 8am to 4pm, well-wishers will be able to lay flowers – purple carnations are being provided – within the petal structure.

After the evening’s memorial service, survivors and relatives will be invited to complete the centre with yellow gerberas.

During the flower-laying, the group Trydydd will perform Song of Doves, written by the father of 28-year-old Helen Jones, who was killed in the King’s Cross explosion.

Members of the public are being encouraged to watch the event on large screens in the park.

The families of the victims have been closely consulted in an attempt to keep the day low-key. The Department for Media, Culture and Sport organised the events.

The number of dignitaries has been kept to a minimum, with the Queen staying away and the Duke of Kent representing the Royal Family.

The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will observe the two-minute silence while at the Order of the Thistle service at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

The Prime Minister will be observing the silence with members of the emergency services, although Downing Street would not confirm where.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair and his most senior officers will be joined outside New Scotland Yard by Len Duvall, chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority and members of the force who were involved in the operational response to the bombings.

The biggest Islamic cultural festival ever staged in Europe also coincides with the anniversary. The thousands of visitors to the Islam Expo at Alexandra Palace in London will observe the two-minute silence.

The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, will today pay tribute to Londoners who “... have not allowed this terrible atrocity to deter them from continuing their lives in a spirit of mutual tolerance, respect, and a spirit of service to others.

“On this day we recall what a marvellous thing it is to belong to this great international city, with peoples from all corners of the globe living side by side and, on the whole, respecting and rejoicing in one another’s diversity,” he will say, at a Requiem Mass at Westminster Cathedral.

The approaching anniversary has seen renewed calls for a public inquiry into the bombings.

Marie Fatayi-Williams, 51, who lost her son Anthony, a 26-year-old oil executive with Amec in the bus bombing, yesterday added her support to the campaign.

“We need to ask ourselves, almost a year on from 7/7, whether we are safer now than then. We need to know what led to 7/7, we need to know the real reasons behind 7/7 and other such atrocities that seem to occur on an almost daily basis the world over,” she said.

Earlier this week Tony Blair again ruled out an inquiry, saying it was essential the police and security services concentrated on the terrorist threat facing the country.

Both Scotland Yard and British Transport Police are putting special policing operations into practice to protect central London and today’s memorial events from a terrorist strike.

In recent days, senior officers from both forces have reiterated the seriousness of the threat.

Peter Clarke, head of the Anti-Terrorist Branch, said the intelligence picture surrounding the terrorist threat was “very very concerning”.

Andy Trotter, Deputy Chief Constable of the British Transport Police, added: “The threat from terrorism remains high.

“Although there is no specific threat around the anniversary of last year’s bomb attacks, it is a stark reminder of what we are facing.”