The Dean of Clare, Jamie Hawkey, spoke for a few minutes at the vigilPatrick Wernham

A vigil was held this morning outside of the Guildhall in memory of the victims of the terror attack at the Manchester Arena.

The vigil saw approximately two hundred people gather outside of the Guildhall in Market Square at eleven o’clock for a minute’s silence, followed by some words from the Dean of Clare College, Jamie Hawkey. Jeremy Benstead, Mayor of Cambridge, and all of the parliamentary candidates were in attendance.

In a brief speech, Hawkey commented on how the attack may have special resonance for a city like Cambridge, both having young and student-heavy populations. He concluded by saying that “chaos and fear burn themselves out”, before another minute’s silence.  

After the event had concluded, many members of the public stayed to talk and mingle with the Dean and the candidates.

Speaking to Varsity, Hawkey said that “Manchester is so well-known as being an outward looking, very ebullient, internationalist kind of place, and I guess that’s always going to touch a nerve with Cambridge, which holds a similar outlook.”

Daniel Zeichner, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Cambridge, organised the event but stressed that he had reached out to the other candidates straight away as he did not wish for it to be a party political event.

The Liberal Democrats’ candidate, Julian Huppert, told Varsity that while he thought it was right for people in Cambridge to come together at this time, “I think it’s good for people frankly to get on with their lives, and do what they were planning to do. This isn’t about stopping people having their life, if you stop having the life you have, then the terrorists have won.”

In a statement released this morning, Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire Police, Alec Wood, expressed sympathy for the victims of the attack and the emergency services in Manchester. He said that “while there is no specific intelligence suggesting an imminent threat to Cambridgeshire we will continue to monitor the situation and have increased patrols in the county.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and take the usual sensible measures to protect the public.”

A special prayer service was also held at Great St Mary’s at noon