Camden Against Violence started the campaign after what was dubbed “Camden’s bloodiest night of knife crime” in which two men were stabbed to death.
17 year old, Abdirkarim Hassan and 20 year old, Sadiq Aadam Mohamed were both killed within two hours of each other on February 20th.
Another victim received injuries that night in Somers Town, but they were not life-threatening.
Councillors support march
Camden Council leader Georgia Gould told City News that she supports the march.
Camden Labour councillors will be marching in solidarity with our community on Thursday. Let’s all stand together against violence https://t.co/vuiIg5Mw0v
— Georgia Gould (@Georgia_Gould) March 21, 2018
Councillor Nadia Shah, the cabinet member for safer communities, also said she supports the march. She believes communities need to have their voices heard in order to bring about change.
She has started community conversations to add to the council’s effort to stop knife crime in Camden.
“The community meetings are resident led conversations, residents are able to tell us what their priorities are and we can use our resources to look at what residents want”
Cllr Shah blames cuts to youth services, police services and the lack of opportunities for young people for the increase in violence.
New knife crime task force
But Camden council is not relying on words alone. They have also launched a youth safety task force in order to examine the underlying causes of youth knife crime.
The force is led by Sir Keri Starmer MP and Councillor Abdul Hai who has special responsibility over youth violence.
Councillor Abdul Hai said: “as a community we must come together to move forward”
“the march is symbolic is about everyone coming together to say we do not want violence in Camden”
“its an opportunity for people to come together to show their solidarity with the community and with the bereaved families”
Silent marchers
Camden Against Violence will march alongside local residents and councillors. They also hope that Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan will be there. The group will assemble at Queen’s Crescent at 4:30pm and will march to Harrington Square.
Tune in to City News at 3:30pm for the full report…
