Landlords hold dance event to oppose gun and knife crime

Four London housing associations invited young people to a famous dance venue to take a stand against knife and gun crime.

Servite Houses, Peabody Trust, London and Quadrant Housing Trust, Wandle Housing and Southwark Police held the event for 250 young Londoners at the Ministry of Sound.

The crowd were entertained by DJ Ironik, Tincy Stryer, Chipmunk, MasterStepz, Ms Darkz, Jaeshaw and Comfort alongside local musical acts. There were also mentoring, journalism and DJing workshops run by radio station Choice FM, Live magazine and charity Foundation4Life.

Two parents whose children were killed in shootings appealed to the audience to stay away from guns and knives.

Martin Hopwood, whose 21-year-old son Kevian was killed in 2003, said : ‘’Why should someone walk around carrying a gun or knife? We have to remember that guns and knifes don’t kill people but people kill people. We have to stop to remember that lives are far more important than material things and that human beings are much more important than money.’’

Iffat Rizvi, whose daughter was also shot dead, told the audience to "put the guns and knifes down" and pick up a much stronger weapon- "’the pen".