8:15pm Saturday 20th September 2008
By Jack Royston
HUNDREDS of people marched through Brent today to raise awareness of knife and gun crime.
The event, organised as part of the Not Another Drop Campaign, saw crowds of people fill streets from Harlesden, where the procession kicked off at 12pm, to Wembley Stadium.
Lauretta Scott, a Brent Council officer responsible for tackling gun and knife crime, said: “There was a good turn out and I think everything went smoothly.
“It’s the fifth public march that’s taken place in Brent and it’s the one day when all the different groups can come out together.”
The event was held alongside another anti gun and knife march through central London, where even greater numbers of people walked to Hyde Park from several different starting points.
It comes during a year which has seen a large number of young people murdered on the streets of London.
Ms Scott said: “We run personal development programmes with young people who are at risk. People who are on the periphery of it and we work with the victims as well and their families.
“Today we had three very powerful and very eloquent speakers. We hope to do a lot more and we will do a lot more.
"What was really good to see today was the number of young people who came out on the march and the number of young men.
"We saw 15, 16 and 17-year-olds out there from start to finish and that was the really powerful thing."
The march finished at 5pm.
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