General Article I was stabbed and surrounded by gangs at school – this is how to stop these attacks

Topic Selected: Youth Violence Book Volume: 430

We need school systems that provide opportunities for staff to build relationships, and have a greater understanding of the local context they work in.

By Mohamed Abdallah

The two young men stopped me on my way home. I was near my home in southeast London, walking back after a long day of work at about 7pm in the evening.

Give me your phone, he says.

Ridiculously, I reply ‘no’. I was too old for this kind of thing. I knew people like this. I had once known people like this too well.

I said again, I’m not going to give you my phone.

That’s when I thought he was punching me very hard in the leg. But it wasn’t a punch. He had stabbed me with a knife.

There was a tussle between us, and this guy and his friend ran off. It wasn’t until I got home I began to process what had happened, and I called an ambulance.

Last week, the government announced a ‘crackdown against organised criminal gangs’. The home secretary, Suella Braverman, has launched a consultation on this.

The Home Office is pro...

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