London mayoral candidate Farah London stages protest at Town Hall UK News

Mayoral hopeful Farah London delivered more than 1,000 recovered knives to town hall yesterday (April 28) in protest against the rise in knife crime.

The former entrepreneur partnered with the Waltham Forest-based Binning Knives Saves Lives charity to deliver the weapons, which had been turned over to a borough amnesty bin, at town hall with a letter calling the resignation of the current mayor Sadiq Khan.

Ms London, who is running for mayor of London as an independent, said the protest was’ to highlight that nothing is being done ‘to tackle knife crime, adding that’ we feel the mayor has failed “.

In her campaign manifesto, Ms London pledged to send more than 8,500 police officers to the streets of London while reintroducing amnesty bins to local police stations and council buildings so that knives can be thrown away.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Ms London said she also wanted to prevent young people from getting involved in crime by opening ‘amplified academies’ across London.

She said: “The main problem is that young people have nothing to do. We really let the young people down. The government has closed all youth centers.

“I talked to gang members and said, ‘Why are you doing this?’ and they say, “What else can I do? I wanted to be a footballer, I wanted to be a doctor, I wanted to be a musician, but I can’t afford it ”. So, they are treated by gangs from the age of eight.

“What I intend to do is open amplified academies in each arrondissement. These academies will be free from 8 to 21 years old and will be performing arts, creative studios and also sports, to really give them something to do, to learn new skills, to involve them in activities, to relaunch their career. ”

She added: “We have the talent in our city, why not invest in our youth to represent ourselves proudly all over the world? All they need is someone to believe in them, and they have so much potential.

Asked why Londoners should vote for her rather than one of the other candidates, Ms London said she was ‘not a politician’ and ‘Londoners have had enough of politicians’.

“What we are seeing right now, we have a Labor mayor and we have a government that is conservative. All they do is argue. They don’t agree on anything and they just throw stones at each other, ”she said.

She added: “If we have an independent mayor like me, I will have stronger power to negotiate with the government on behalf of the people.”