{"id":244498,"date":"2025-07-07T05:39:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T05:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/244498\/"},"modified":"2025-07-07T05:39:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T05:39:18","slug":"i-was-on-the-circle-line-when-it-happened-7-7-the-day-that-changed-the-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/244498\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I was on the Circle Line when it happened\u2019: 7\/7, the day that changed the nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liza Williams\u2019s recollections of 7 July 2005<\/a>, when four British men \u2013 Hasib Hussain, Mohammad Sidique Khan, Germaine Lindsay and Shehzad Tanweer \u2013 blew themselves up on the London transport network, are hazy. \u201cMemories fade,\u201d she says. \u201cIt felt like it was time to retell the story.\u201d <\/p>\n

Speaking to some 750 people during the making of Netflix<\/a> four-parter Attack on London: Hunting the 7\/7 Bombers, the director (a 2020 Bafta winner for The Yorkshire Ripper Files) and her team wanted to cover every possible perspective, from the prime minister to MI5, police to journalists, survivors to some who knew the bombers. <\/p>\n

In doing so, she covers the atrocity itself but also its aftermath in which Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician, was shot by police who wrongly believed he was one of four other bombers<\/a> at large following a failed attack two weeks after 7\/7.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a comprehensive and visceral series,\u201d says Williams. \u201cI hope it\u2019s dramatic and compelling for the viewer, but also emotionally engaging, whether we\u2019re hearing from survivors who are still affected by it or about the untruths some people still believe about Jean Charles\u2019s shooting. This was a huge national trauma, but I hope people will watch it and realise how important it is not to let events divide us.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

Mustafa Kurtuldu \u2013 7\/7 survivor<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\u2018The<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

\u2018The PTSD and manic episodes are hard\u2019 (Netflix)<\/p>\n

I was an art student on the Circle Line, headphones in, when the train jumped off the track like it had gone over a slab of concrete. I was a carriage away, never thinking it could be a bomb. We were stuck for about 45 minutes and started hearing screams, but even then, I thought that was claustrophobia. We followed emergency services through the back of the train along the track into Aldgate station and saw people on the track, smelled these awful smells. I started taking photos out of habit. A police officer was taking everyone\u2019s names and, when I said \u201cMustafa\u201d, he checked my bag. There is a degree of second-class citizenship here, but it\u2019s not worth being a martyr about stuff like that. What if you later did something nefarious and that police officer had to live with that?<\/p>\n

I went on This Morning the next day because I wanted to tell the broadcaster to pass on a message to the family of a woman my family had met while looking for me in hospital, that she was OK. Also, conspiracy theories after 9\/11<\/a> were rife and I wanted people to see my pictures and hear the truth. Looking back, you can see I\u2019m agitated and in shock \u2013 then Kate Garraway asked me how I felt about it as a Muslim! I was 24, I\u2019d just seen people dying in front of me\u2026 Why would any producer think I was OK to do it?<\/p>\n

I was back on the Tube within two weeks, but the PTSD and manic episodes are hard, triggered by anything from sirens to the ground rumbling over a trainline. I also have a deep sense of survivor\u2019s guilt. I used to go to the Hyde Park memorial a lot, until my wife said, \u201cWhy are you doing this? You\u2019re torturing yourself.\u201d So I don\u2019t go to that corner any more.<\/p>\n

Generally, people came together. They walked home when the trains shut down, almost as a protest to say: we\u2019re going to stand up to these people. Today, a lot of airtime is given to demagogues and grifters who blame the majority for the acts of individuals. I\u2019ve always been reluctant to be a celebrity victim offering up opinions on the world, but I do these documentaries because it\u2019s important people hear perspectives they may not be used to, from someone who was there. <\/p>\n

Mohammed \u2013 youth worker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\u2018I<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

\u2018I sometimes wonder if I could have changed his mind\u2019 (Netflix)<\/p>\n

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I worked with a group trying to move young people away from a conservative, backward interpretation of Islam. Someone suggested going to Beeston, where I met Shehzad Tanweer. I knew Mohammad Sidique Khan and his fellow extremists and I think Shehzad was initially quite impressed I was challenging these people.<\/p>\n

We started meeting three times a week and he invited me to his parents\u2019 chippie. He was a good kid and we had a really decent relationship, but when his father asked me \u201csave my son\u201d, I was really shocked. Then Shehzad invited me to the Iqra bookshop, and I understood: I listened to a recording of [Jihadist preacher] Sheikh Faisal and I was horrified by what he was saying, that you\u2019d go to paradise if you killed a kafir [Arabic term for non-Muslim] walking down the street. I argued with Shehzad\u2019s friends and they went berserk. After that, there was a silence for a few days. No acrimony but, looking back, I think Shehzad became lost. Still, I really believed I\u2019d made an impact, so when I saw his picture after 7\/7, I broke down. I sometimes wonder if I\u2019d spent more time there, shown more personal vulnerability, I could have changed his mind. He was the kid that got away, a good kid with so much potential. I didn\u2019t do enough and that hurt a lot.<\/p>\n

It took this atrocity to bring the ills of society to the forefront, for debate and dialogue to occur. We need to convince young people to become active citizens, and this really shaped my future \u2013 I still spend a lot of my time trying to safeguard young people against extremism. Back then, you generally had to be physically present to have an impact. Now, it\u2019s much more dangerous and young people are more vulnerable because extremist material is available at the touch of a button.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, people are more aware of the signs of extremism. Prevent [part of the government\u2019s counter-terrorist strategy aimed at early intervention for those vulnerable to radicalisation] had its flaws, but it has created a safe space where people can express their concerns safely rather than take them elsewhere. It also promoted our society\u2019s shared values of mutual respect and tolerance, of democracy and freedom of expression. We\u2019re slowly moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n

Doug McKenna \u2013 Detective Superintendent in Met Anti-Terror Branch, now retired<\/strong><\/p>\n

The attack on 7\/7 was an intelligence failure, undoubtedly, but if you want to prevent every single potential threat, you\u2019d have to create a police state. Between 9\/11 and 7\/7, counterterrorism, the police and security services had probably disrupted a good dozen potential attacks, but there was definitely a sense of escalating threat, that a terrorist attack was inevitable. On the day itself, I heard radio reports mentioning power outages while driving into work from Hertfordshire. When they started talking about multiple sites on the Underground, it began sounding particularly concerning. Once I\u2019d driven by Edgware Road, I realised this had not been caused by a thunderstorm.<\/p>\n

Despite all the planning and preparation, I don\u2019t think any of us really visualised how complex and catastrophic something like 7\/7 would be. It was a very tough few days. I was overseeing the temporary mortuary, trying to identify people from thousands of body parts. Nothing in your 16 weeks of training at Hendon deals with that \u2013 harrowing is the word I would use. Everyone just got on with the job, but it had a lasting impact. <\/p>\n

Our greatest fear was that this was the first in a wave of attacks \u2013 we simply didn\u2019t have the resources to respond to another 7\/7, over and over again. By the time of [the failed suicide bombings<\/a> on] 21\/7, we were probably more prepared but also absolutely exhausted, so there was enormous relief that it hadn\u2019t led to the same loss of life.<\/p>\n

The next day, when Jean Charles de Menezes was shot, was a disaster. <\/strong>It was a point of inflection and reflection for the police service, but none of that can compensate for the fact that an innocent man was killed by the police. It overshadowed the success of the manhunt [the four would-be bombers were apprehended by 29 July] but I understand why, because it remains a significant error.<\/p>\n

The legacy of those few weeks changed policing fundamentally in its response to terrorism: a realisation that there might be a continuing need to pre-emptively use lethal force; a national counterterrorist policing network; more effort and resources put into identifying people on the path of radicalisation. We are much better prepared today, although austerity meant resources were stripped away from traditional policing. We identify failures, but whether we learn those lessons and act on them, I\u2019m still not confident.<\/p>\n

Yasmin Khan \u2013 human rights activist<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\u2018Communities<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

\u2018Communities of colour in London felt a double threat: from terrorists and from the police\u2019 (Netflix)<\/p>\n

I was working for a trade union near Tavistock Square on 7\/7. Like many Londoners, I was worried about loved ones, that this was happening in London and, as a British Muslim, about the possible rise in Islamophobia. These were the peak years of the war on terror<\/a> so it already felt very tense. Then, when I heard the police had shot an innocent, 27-year-old Brazilian electrician, it confirmed my worst fears. Communities of colour in London felt a double threat: from terrorists and from the police, who were targeting certain people \u2013 even though Jean-Charles de Menezes looked nothing like [21\/7 bomber] Hussain Osman. <\/p>\n

At a vigil outside Stockwell station, someone I asked for a light turned out to be Jean-Charles\u2019s best friend. I got to know the family and helped start a campaign to support them, find out what happened and see somebody held accountable. The catalogue of policing failures was shocking: incompetence, not following procedure, confusion in the command room, prejudice. Instead of the police holding their hands up and admitting to a mistake, they came up with an agreed story. Misinformation was put in the public domain. The character of the victim was brought into question. They closed ranks. It all leads to real distrust of a service that is supposed to protect us and adds to a sense that we can\u2019t trust institutions.<\/p>\n

The de Menezes family have been saying the same thing [about the circumstances of Jean Charles\u2019s shooting] for 20 years and it\u2019s only in the past couple of years that we\u2019re finally being believed. It can be hard for people brought up thinking our judicial system is one of the best in the world, to have that idea challenged. There\u2019s also a huge power imbalance: who are you going to believe \u2013 the police or some poor, traumatised migrant family? Over time, that\u2019s shifted. <\/p>\n

In terms of today\u2019s divisions, I wouldn\u2019t start with 7\/7, as reprehensible as it was. There\u2019s a broader issue of how the dehumanisation of one community leads to more dehumanisation. The anger people felt around Iraq, Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, it\u2019s so easy for an extremist to come in and use that legitimate anger as fuel. Politicians have to realise you don\u2019t end radicalism by just ending radical programmes, but by looking at why people feel so alienated and rejected from British society.<\/p>\n

\u2018Attack on London: Hunting the 7\/7 Bombers\u2019 launches on Netflix on 1 July<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liza Williams\u2019s recollections of 7 July 2005, when four British men \u2013 Hasib Hussain, Mohammad Sidique Khan, Germaine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[77,3943,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-244498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114810346987311944","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}