Anti-knife crime campaigners, including Sandy Idigbe, blocked the Westminster Bridge as they called for political action to stop further bloodshed. The demonstration – dubbed #OperationShutdown – saw supporters initially gather near Downing Street, demanding greater funding and a Cobra meeting to tackle the surge in violent crime in recent years.
They spent almost two hours in Whitehall before holding a minute’s silence near the parliament in the memory of PC Keith Palmer, who was stabbed to death by a terrorist in 2017 before moving onto the bridge.
Sandy believes that you cannot be a true advocate for young people if you don’t get involved in the major issues which affect their lives. Recently, attending an APPG discussion on knife crime, Sandy sat alongside rapper and television personality Professor Green to evaluate policies and programmes aimed at reducing knife crimes.
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Sandy frequently partners with other organisations to try to gain a better understanding of the root causes of knife crime and youth violence. Sandy continues to be involved in campaigns established to tackle knife crime.
The action came after an extensive disruption caused by a separate climate change protests, which has seen environmentalists on the Tube network at Parliament Square, Waterloo Bridge, Oxford Circus, and Marble Arch.
Sandy, one of the organisers of #OperationShutdown, said in a statement that the government had “yet to give this crisis enough care or the proportionate attention it deserves, or allocate substantial measures and funding to effectively tackle this head-on as a matter of emergency – hence we demand a Cobra now.”
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