Riot police targeted and pelted with bricks and bottles as they shut down another illegal rave in London
RIOT police were last night targeted with bricks and bottles as they shut down another illegal rave in London.
The Metropolitan Police has said more officers will be on the streets of the capital this weekend following a spate of lockdown parties and violent crime in recent weeks.
Footage from last night shows lines of riot officers advancing on crowds on a street near the Woodberry Down Estate in Finsbury Park.
Large gatherings have been outlawed since the coronavirus lockdown came into force in March, but recent weeks have seen reports of dozens of illegal events taking place in London and elsewhere.
Photos from Hackney also showed officers being targeted with kerb stones as well as glass bottles, reportedly after another illegal event was broken up.
Last night's unrest comes after officials warned that London's R-rate could have crept back above one, which would indicate the virus's spread is again accelerating.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D'Orsi vowed that more officers would be sent out this weekend to help prevent violent crime and act on intelligence about unlicensed events.
"The past week has seen a number of people who have needlessly lost their lives at the hands of violent criminals," she said.
"Any number of murders is too many but we are very concerned by the recent increase.
"We have also seen an increase in unlicensed music events which, as well as being very disruptive to communities and posing an increased risk of COVID-19 transmission, they have in some cases led to violent incidents affecting both those attending and the officers who have to shut them down.
"Tackling violence is always the Met's number one priority and we are doing all we can to prevent any further incidents and bring perpetrators to justice."
SPATE OF VIOLENCE
Last night also follows a spike of violent crime, with seven suspected murders having occurred just in the last seven days.
Figures released yesterday showed that London's crime rate rose at five times the rate of the rest of England over the past year.
In the most recent incident, police were called at 4.45am on Friday to reports of four men involved in a brawl in Lytton Avenue, Enfield and one man being put into a vehicle.
Around 5am, officers at North Middlesex Hospital became aware of a man in his 30s, who had been brought in suffering a single stab wound.
He was pronounced dead in hospital.
It came just hours after a man in his 30s was stabbed to death in Kilburn on Thursday night.
The Sun also reported earlier this week on the tragic death of 18-year-old Ahmed Yasin-Ali, who was stabbed to death in Maida Vale at around 12.30am on Wednesday.
Another young man was shot dead in Harlesden, West London at a "nine-nights" wake attended by over 100 people in tribute to another man who died last week, the Evening Standard reports.
Dean Edwards, 43, was also shot in the back of the head while walking through a park just after midnight last Sunday in Penge, South London, police said.
Last Saturday, MMA fighter Jareau Shepherd was fatally stabbed to death near an estate in the Kennington area of South London.
And the night before, Muhammed Samir Uddin, 19, was fatally stabbed near Crossharbour DLR station in South-East London.
Source: Read Full Article