EXCLUSIVE: Tower Hamlets Council has called for a street in the Olympic Park to be named after Nelson Mandela.
Plans to lobby the mayor of London for a street in the park to honour the late South African leader were passed in a vote at last night’s council meeting, after a half-hour debate on the wording of the motion.
The original motion from independent councillor Rabina Khan to name a building after the anti-apartheid hero was criticised by Tory councillor Peter Golds for its reference to Margaret Thatcher’s having called Mandela a terrorist.
An amendment proposed by Labour councillor Carlo Gibbs to lobby Boris Johnson and the London Legacy Development Corporation for a ‘Mandela Street’ in the park was passed by a large majority.
In his amendment, Cllr Gibbs said the Olympic Park idea would be “in recognition of sport’s power to unite communities”.
The council also agreed to fund an educational project about Nelson Mandela’s legacy for local schools during Black History Month and to draw up options for a permanent tribute to Mandela in the borough.
Flags were flown at half-mast at Tower Hamlets town hall last month after Mandela’s death on December 5.
At the time, Mayor Lutfur Rahman said: “Nelson Mandela was a giant. We shall not see his like again. The world has lost a great human being.”
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