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PUPILS SEE
GANG WAR STABBINGS
Head forced to lock gates as
battle rages outside
HUNDREDS of children were locked behind Haverstock
School gates while a vicious knife fight between rival gangs
– which led to three youths being taken to hospital with
stab wounds – turned a quiet Chalk Farm street into a no-go
zone on Tuesday.
Pupils claimed that one of the gangs is a Somali group –
who call themselves the ANC (African Nations Crew) – linked
to the murder of 18-year-old Mahir Osman outside Camden Tube
Station in January.
Although Camden’s community safety chief Labour councillor
Jake Sumner says there is nothing to indicate this is true,
Haverstock headteacher John Dowd confirmed the battle was between
a group of Somali boys and a group from outside the borough.
Eyewitnesses saw one youth running down the road covered in
blood, while up to 30 others fought amongst themselves following
an alleged dispute over a stolen belly-button ring.
It is the latest in a spate of fights involving knives and gangs
in Camden in the last few months, which has already cost two
lives.
An air ambulance swooped onto the school grounds to attend to
the injured, who were eventually taken to the Royal Free Hospital.
The stabbings, believed to have taken place in Crogsland Road
and outside the Salvation Army charity shop on Adelaide Road,
are said to have been sparked off by a dispute over a stolen
purse.
Haverstock pupils say a fellow student called her boyfriend
to come “sort things out” after her purse was returned
minus a belly button ring.
The boyfriend is believed to have turned up outside the school
with his gang, some armed with knives.
One shop owner said he has complained to the school on numerous
occasions about gangs gathering around the streets every evening
but little has been done.
Blaming the late-night take-aways for attracting youths with
nothing better to do, he said businesses were considering asking
the council to work with them to combat the nuisance.
He said: “Twenty or 30 of them were fighting outside my
shop. They nearly broke my window. I told them to get away so
I could continue with my business but they started swearing.
I had to close early.”
Haverstock head teacher John Dowd said: “There was a lot
of confusion. Our students were leaving school at the time so
we closed the gates and kept several hundred students inside.
The police have been here today, and we kept our students in
at lunchtime.
“They were not from our school, no Haverstock pupil was
injured and no Haverstock pupil was involved.”
The school’s own police officer PC Ron Muter, who has been
based at the school for four years, was on duty at the time.
Mr Dowd added: “The response was very quick – the
area was flooded by police within minutes.”
An air ambulance landed in the school playground but eventually
the victims were taken by road to Hampstead’s Royal Free
Hospital.
Community safety chief Councillor Jake Sumner said: “I
understand it’s not linked to the stabbing of Mahir Osman.
Any knife incident is of concern and it’s important that
parents, children, teachers, the council and the police work
together to get knives out of the pockets of children.
“The government announced a knife amnesty and we’re
going to be carrying that out in late May.”
But Tory councillor Mike Green said: “Once again we are
being told that the borough’s getting safer. They may be
on paper, according to the bureaucrats but the truth is there’s
a great deal of crime on the streets.” |
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