Bali blasts' victims plan memorial in UK
Bali blasts' victims plan memorial in UK
Emily Rotberg, Associated Press/London
Families of the British victims of the 2002 terrorist bombings in Bali, Indonesia, announced plans on Thursday for a permanent memorial in London's St. James Park.
The UK Bali Bombing Victims' Group, a support and advocacy group established by the 26 British families who lost loved ones in the bombings, will submit a planning application for the memorial to Westminster Council on Friday.
Matthew Arnold, whose brother Timothy, 43, died in the bombing, said a permanent memorial had long been an important goal for the group.
"We wanted to make sure that everybody who died is going to be properly remembered in an elegant and simple way," Arnold said.
Sketches of the memorial feature a wall bearing engraved names of each of the bombing's 202 victims and a granite sphere covered in 202 individually carved doves.
Jocelyn Waller, who lost his son Ed in the bombing, said sculptor Garry Breeze's design was "very moving, very striking." Waller said he hoped the memorial could help bring closure to victims' families while bringing public attention to the seriousness of the bombing.
"I think my own son would have said, 'Dad, get on with life'," Waller said. "A London memorial will be an event which will sort of put this thing to rest."
Ed Waller, 26, was working in Hong Kong when he went to Bali on a rugby trip with 10 friends. Only one of the group survived the bombings.
The group of family members hopes to unveil the memorial on Oct. 12, 2005, the third anniversary of the bombing.
Two back-to-back bombings hit nightclubs in the town of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The blasts targeted an area popular with foreign tourists.
In addition to the dead, 209 people were injured. The victims came from 22 countries, with the largest number from Australia.
Other memorials for the attack have been constructed in Kuta and in the Australian cities of Sydney and Perth.
Waller said the group would finance the London memorial through private funding and a contribution from the British government.