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COPS: 'GANG WARFARE ON OUR STREETS'
Police enforce search zone to prevent outbreaks of violence
CLUBS and broken bottles were recovered from streets in Kentish Town after police used controversial search powers to prevent gang clashes on Tuesday.
Senior officers used special Public Order Act powers to declare most of the borough a zone where they believed there was a “possibility of serious violence”, following a suspected gang attack involving Camden teenagers in Islington and a string of alleged incidents from King’s Cross to Hampstead Heath.
A 17-year-old with a broken jaw and wounds to the head was sent to hospital from Marquis Road, Kentish Town on Tuesday afternoon, reportedly following an attack at the nearby Market Road football pitches.
Three hours later, three teenagers were stabbed and two others injured in a clash in Caledonian Road, Islington, reportedly involving some Camden youths.
And throughout Tuesday night, Camden police dealt with residents’ calls from across the borough, warning that groups of teenagers were preparing to fight.
Reports suggested tension between Camden gang The Money Squad and a rival group from Islington and Hackney, although police declined to confirm this.
Officially, police refused to discuss any gang element to the violence or the measures being taken for 24 hours.
Although at 8pm on Tuesday they deployed the Section 60 powers – effectively turning the whole borough north of Euston Road into a zone in which they could search anyone, at any time, without having to give any grounds – senior police insisted this was a precaution and played down the night’s events.
Camden Police head of communications Pierre Petrou said: “A Section 60 power was enforced to disperse youths and to prevent any violent disorder after we received several calls of youth disturbances. It’s a standard power police can utilise in such circumstances and as a result there were no further incidents in the borough.”
But frontline officers were less circumspect as they carried out patrols of housing estates and likely flashpoints on Tuesday afternoon and evening. “Gang warfare has broken out and we’re trying to work out what it is all about,” said one officer.
Among the incidents on Tuesday reported to the New Journal and confirmed by the police, were a gang of 40 people with sticks and bottles around the Denton estate in Kentish Town, and a gathering of around 20 around the nearby Wendling estate in Haverstock Road, Gospel Oak, shortly afterwards. Incidents were reported through the evening at Savernake Road, Holmes Road, and on Hampstead Heath, where the Heath constabulary were alerted.
Among all of these incidents, however, no casualties or crimes were recorded by police, apart from a broken window in Kentish Town.
Neither was any crime recorded in a possibly related incident on Monday night, when a 20-year-old man was found in Agar Grove, Camden Town, with a broken cheekbone. Although local reports suggested he had been stabbed in the face, the victim did not report any crime, according to the police spokeswoman.
?declined to confirm this.
Officially, police refused to discuss any gang element to the violence or the measures being taken for 24 hours
Although at 8pm on Tuesday they deployed the Public Order Act Section 60 powers – effectively turning the whole borough north of Euston Road into a zone in which they could search anyone – senior police insisted this was a precaution and played down the night’s events.
Camden Police head of communications Pierre Petrou said: “A Section 60 power was enforced to disperse youths and to prevent any violent disorder after we received several calls of youth disturbances. It’s a standard power police can utilise in such circumstances.”
But frontline officers were less circumspect as they carried out patrols of housing estates and likely flashpoints from Tuesday afternoon.
“Gang warfare has broken out and we’re trying to work out what it is all about,” said one officer. Among the incidents on Tuesday reported to the New Journal and confirmed by the police, were a gang of 40 people with sticks and bottles around the Denton estate in Kentish Town, and a gathering of around 20 around the nearby Wendling estate in Haverstock Road, Gospel Oak, shortly afterwards. Incidents were reported throughout the evening at
Savernake Road, Holmes Road, and on Hampstead Heath, where the Heath constabulary were alerted.
Among all of these incidents, however, no casualties or crimes were recorded by police, apart from a broken window in Kentish Town. |
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