“Enough is enough” say anti-violence campaigners

Oh!Mother anti-violence campaigners. Pic: Oh!Mother

Oh!Mother anti-violence campaigners. Pic: Oh!Mother

“Enough is Enough” was the slogan of campaigners who marched through the capital in protest against the violent deaths suffered by young people in London.

 Anti-violence campaigners have held a rally in Bethnal Green on Saturday in memory of 15-year old Joel Adesina, who was fatally stabbed in Tower Hamlets on December 5 last year.

Adesina was one of eight teenagers, who died in stabbings in 2014. Three teenagers have already died in the capital this year.

Adesina’s mother and sisters were present in the march, which started in Shacklewell Street. His family were joined by the members of the non-profit organisation called Oh!MOTHER, which supports mothers, women and young people facing challenging times.

The group aimed to raise awareness of the violence faced by young people in a bid to eradicate knife crime.

Bridgette Peters, the founder of the organisation, said: “The event, in which approximately 200 people took part, was a huge success to raise awareness of these violent deaths in the community.

“From pregnancy, mothers work so hard for their children’s well-being and no mother should lose their children before they see them grow up and build their own lives.”

Dr Bernadine Idowu Onibokun, an organiser of the rally and the founder of the youth organisation Youth Against Crime Not Crime Against Youth said: “We set about initially to bring awareness to our community that we have a problem.

“On this occasion people responded positively by actually coming out and saying ‘yes, this is a problem and we want to fight it together’. People are taking our community seriously and they are understanding our message, which is to stop this kind of knife crime. We are just saying we have had enough.”

The organisation plans to continue to education young people in the future.

Onibokun said: “What we need to do is speak to young people that have been in prison, that have come out and turned their life around. The problem at the moment is that parents don’t understand them.”

Oh!MOTHER’s next event will gather parents together for a seminar on February 21 at the University of East London, Docklands Campus, University Way.

The seminar aims to re-educate parents and focus on how to strengthen family ties and re-build traditional bonds.

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