The London Police on Saturday held an emergency meeting with community leaders to discuss strategy to counter a spate of stabbings across the city, Reuters reported. The meeting follows at least six separate knife attacks that occurred in a span of a few hours.
Seven people were stabbed in five separate incidents on Thursday, BBC reported. Two more people sustained injuries in another knife attack earlier. No deaths have been reported yet.
The force reiterated that they still have control over law and order in the streets. “[We] have been absolutely clear that we cannot tackle knife crime alone, we cannot enforce our way out of this and will do all we can to mobilise communities behind us and to help protect London,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
With the crime rate on an unprecedented rise in modern history, Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative government is facing criticism for reducing funds to the police department. The Labour Party’s London Mayor Sadiq Khan has also been criticised for not doing enough to curb stabbing incidents.
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