On Christmas, relatives of Covid victims hung fairy lights on a wall covered in red hearts in central London, an impromptu memorial, symbolizing "love" and "anger".
As we approach the fifth anniversary of the pandemic, emotions remain high.
More than 240,000 hearts have been hand-painted on the 500-metre-long wall, which sits on the banks of the River Thames, with stunning views of the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. Each represents a person who has died from Covid in the UK. Thousands of messages are written: “Mama, I will always love you”, “Phil, always in my heart”, “We miss you every day”.
The 500-metre memorial wall was originally intended to be temporary. It was built without permission in March 2021 to hold the government of then-prime minister Boris Johnson to account for its chaotic handling of the pandemic.
He is accused in particular of having been slow to realise the seriousness of the pandemic, by confining too late and then lifting the confinement too quickly.
This wall is “an outpouring of love, anger, rage,” summarizes Lorelei King, whose husband died of Covid at the end of March 2020.
This 71-year-old woman is part of the group "Friends of the Wall", a dozen volunteers who come every Friday to clean the monument, repaint the hearts that fade in the rain, and rewrite the messages.
“It’s quite meditative,” she said, delicately repainting a disappearing heart.
The group continues to draw new hearts, while Covid takes new people.
A few days before Christmas, the volunteers met for another, more joyful mission: installing garlands along the wall. They lit them on Monday afternoon and they will remain in place until early January.
– “Comfort” –
“We put up garlands every Christmas to reflect and remember the people who aren’t with us during the Christmas season,” says Kirsten Hackman, 58. Her mother died in May 2020 from Covid.
"For many of us, there is an empty place around the table at Christmas. (…) It is a very difficult time," she adds.
Passers-by stop, intrigued, to look at this unusual wall, questioning the group which is busy laughing.
This wall is a collective “therapy session,” say volunteers.
But nearly five years into the pandemic, the pain remains the same, Lorelei King said. Like others, she said she hasn’t been able to grieve. “We haven’t been able to have a proper funeral,” she said, because of the lockdown rules in place when her husband died.
So she puts her energy into this wall. "It comforts me. (…) And I don't want the people who are dear to us to be forgotten."
“We understand each other. We’re in this together,” said Michelle Rumball, 53, whose mother died of Covid in April 2020.
She was there from the first day, when the first hearts were painted, after a call on social networks from the political activist group Led By Donkeys.
For ten days, hundreds of people who had lost loved ones showed up at the wall, even though they risked being arrested for damaging a listed wall.
"I was very angry. It was a way of protesting," Rumball recalled.
The wall depends on donations. The group wants to make it "permanent" and officially recognized. It would be better protected. The friends of the wall are in discussions with the authorities. And a few days before Christmas, they had a "very positive" meeting, smiles Lorelei King, optimistic.
According to the WHO, Covid has killed more than 232,000 people in the UK. By comparison, there have been around 168,000 in France. Worldwide, more than seven million deaths from the disease have been reported to the WHO, but the true toll of the pandemic appears to be much higher.
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