Midday mark of respect planned and flags lowered to half-mast as bodies of 30 Britons continue to be repatriated and UK police contribute to investigation

Britain will hold an official minute’s silence at midday to mourn the British tourists killed in a gun massacre on a Tunisian beach last week.

Flags are being flown at half-mast over Whitehall and Buckingham Palace as a mark of respect for those killed in the deadliest terror attack for Britons since the bombings in London on 7 July 2005.

In Sousse, Britain’s ambassador to Tunisia, Hamish Cowell, diplomats from some of the nations that lost tourists, and Tunisian dignitaries will lay wreaths at the scene of the attack before observing a minute’s silence there.

Seven days ago Seifeddine Rezgui walked on to the beach at the El Kantaoui resort and opened fire, killing 38 people – including 30 UK nationals.

On the sand outside the Imperial Marhaba hotel where most of the tourists died, half a dozen improvised memorials have been scooped out of the sand. They are arranged around a large heart-shaped depression in the beach with flowers, candles and notes from well wishers.

One anonymous note, handwritten on Thomson Skytours notepaper and wedged in among wreaths of fast-drying flowers, reads: “There are no words to describe how we are all feeling but these poor souls will never be forgotten.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tunisian police patrol the beach where ambassadors and Tunisian officials will hold a minute’s silence. Photograph: Chris Stephen/The Guardian

Habib Daguib, who operates quad bikes for tourists along the beach, said: “Normally with each sunrise we say ‘Hamdullah, praise to God for the new day’, but this day we have a deep pain inside us.”

David Cameron, the British prime minister, has asked all government departments and official buildings in the UK, as well as embassies and military bases across the world, to fly their flags at half-mast for the day.

Local authorities, police forces and schools have been asked to observe the silence at midday. In train stations, posters have been put up and announcements will be made to remind passengers and staff.

Crowds and competitors are to due fall silent at Wimbledon, Henley Regatta, the British Grand Prix and the horse races in Doncaster, Newton Abbot, Sandown Park, Beverly and Haydock Park.

The government also contacted faith leaders to encourage their congregations to join the country in remembrance.

Wounded Britons – including four with severe injuries – have already been brought back to the UK. They are being treated at hospitals in Birmingham, Oxford, Plymouth and London.

The bodies of 17 victims have been repatriated since Wednesday, all flown to RAF Brize Norton. Mourning relatives watched as their coffins were unloaded by pallbearers from the RAF Regiment, Queen’s Colour Squadron.

More were expected to return on Friday and Saturday. Among the other victims were three Irish nationals, two Germans, one Belgian, one Portuguese and one Russian.

The first inquests into the deaths of the Britons will open at West London coroner’s court on Friday. The coroner, Chinyere Inyama, is expected to immediately adjourn the hearings in which a cause of death will be confirmed and the bodies will be released to families.

Tunisian authorities have detained eight people on suspicion of aiding Rezgui, and are searching for two others believed to have trained with him in Libya. Four others have been questioned in connection with the massacre.

Authorities believe Rezgui trained at the same jihadi camp as two gunmen who killed 21 tourists at the Bardo museum in Tunis in March. They fear a third sleeper cell, formed at the same time, could still be lying in wait.

Britain’s defence secretary, Michael Fallon, vowed those responsible would be tracked down. “We are working with the Tunisian authorities to find out exactly how this outrage last Friday was carried out, how it was planned, who was involved in it,” he told the House of Commons on Thursday.

“Let the house be in absolutely no doubt: the people who perpetrated the murders of our constituents are going to be tracked down, whether they are in Libya, in Syria or anywhere else,” he said.

Fallon has also confirmed to MPs that the government favours expanding the campaign of air attacks against Isis, which has claimed Rezgui was acting on its behalf. Labour has hinted it would support a plan to begin strikes in Syria.

Russell Brand, the comedian and activist, denounced Friday’s minute’s silence as “bullshit” as he pinned the blame for the attacks on British foreign policy.

“There’s no point in having a minute’s silence as long as during that time they continue to sell arms, they continue to bomb foreign countries. They have no interest in a solution,” said Brand in the latest episode of his YouTube current affairs show, the Trews. “Their only interest is to perpetuate the problem and to continue to profit from it.”

But Sir Peter Fahy, chief constable of Greater Manchester police and national policing lead on the counter-extremism strategy Prevent, said the minute’s silence should help bridge gaps between communities.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he said: “As part of the minute’s silence today we will be standing together with different communities in places like Manchester to say we are all going to stand together against this kind of hatred and this sort of medieval fascism that Isil promotes.”

He added: “The important thing is how we approach this and that we don’t end up with a narrative which is a sort of them and us between the rest of the community and the Muslim community. And, we recognise that lots of Muslim parents are battling with this issue, as we all are, in terms of how young people deal with extreme issues on the internet.”

The Metropolitan police said 76 family liaison officers across the country were supporting the survivors and the families of those killed. Hundreds of counter-terrorism officers were helping the international response to the attack.

Specialist advisers have also been sent to help the Foreign Office and Tunisian authorities double-check security at other tourist resorts and attractions.



