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By RICHARD OSLEY
 

From left Natalie Ademakihwa, Amir Deng and Natasha Ademakihwa
'Bin the blades' call after fatal stabbings

Third death sparks teenagers’ knife amnesty appeal

TEENAGERS have been urged to give up their knives in a bid to prevent further stabbing tragedies on Camden’s streets.
The Red Hot Greens – a volunteer youth project based in Gospel Oak – wants a knife amnesty to be set up as soon as possible.
Group member Natalie Ademakinwa, 18, said: “We want there to be a secure box where you can just drop any weapon and get rid of it.
“It is getting too much in Camden at the moment. Lots of teenagers have knives. It is because they are scared. But if they care about another man’s life they should give them up and not carry knives. There is too much knife crime.”
After three fatal stabbings in Camden in just four weeks, there have been several calls for youths to be given the chance to bin their blades.
Ms Ademakinwa added: “The amnesty would have to be done where there is no CCTV, not at a police station or anything like that. We don’t want youths to feel they will get in trouble if they give up their knives. They won’t be questioned, just get rid of them.”
The possibility of a knife amnesty was raised after the deaths of Amanda Cummins, 27, in Camden Town at Christmas and Tommy Winston, 18, in Kentish Town early last month. Both died from knife wounds.
Pressure for an amnesty was intensified by the fatal stabbing of Mahir Osman, 18, in Camden Town two weeks ago.
Kentish Town councillor Dave Horan said at last Monday’s full council meeting: “Perhaps we could follow other cities and have a knife amnesty through the police. We will never entirely eradicate crime and the fear of crime but we need to liaise with the police and schools to increase knife awareness. It is a way of publicising the problem.”
Senior Labour councillor Julian Fulbrook said: “We have been doing knife awareness with police. We will give an undertaking to talk to police immediately to see what we as a council can do to help.”
In neighbouring Islington, knife disposal bins are being set up in police stations in Islington and Holloway. Weapons can be dumped there on a “no questions asked” basis, police said.
Portable, airport-style scanners are also being used in Islington in a bid to root out people carrying knives in the streets.
Sergeant Paul Colwill said he would rather teenagers took up karate if they felt they needed to protect themselves, rather than arming themselves with blades.
Launching Operation Blunt – a drive to convince youngsters to turn their backs on knife crime – he said: “I find it quite worrying that young people are under the impression they can carry knives for self-defence. They might feel endangered if they are the victims of crime and that they need to arm themselves. But quite the opposite is true.”
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