Facebook friends stage knife rally

Two old school friends are behind this weekend's antiknife crime rally which will bring thousands of Londoners to Hyde Park.

The pair, who lost touch after school but met up again after a decade through Facebook, used the site to organise the event.

Sharon Singh and Gemma Alway, both 26, were horrified by the wave of teenage violence in the city and decided to organise a protest. But their plans snowballed, and The People's March on Saturday is expected to bring central London to a standstill.

Ms Singh, from Chiswick, said the two friends made contact around the time of the stabbing of 16-year-old Ben Kinsella in June, the 17th teenager to be violently killed in London this year.

The last time the 26-yearolds had spoken they were schoolgirls at The Green School for Girls in Hounslow.

They began to discuss their fears for Ms Singh's teenage brother and worry about what the future held for Ms Alway's five-year-old son and 21-month-old daughter. Ms Singh said: "Neither of us have lost anyone to knife crime but Gemma's got two kids and I've got a 19-year-old brother.

"He is my motivation for doing this.

"We all live in this society and it affects each and every one of us. So we set up a group on Facebook and the response has been absolutely phenomenal." In three months, 7,000 people have joined the group. But the protest truly gained momentum when the Damilola Taylor Trust combined a rally originally planned for November with Saturday's event. Richard Taylor, whose 10-year-old son Damilola was stabbed to death in Peckham in 2000, urged people to march.

The north section of the march starts at 9.30am at Caledonian Park, off Caledonian Road, while the south section sets off from Kennington Park, opposite The Oval. They will meet at Hyde Park at 1.30pm, with guest speakers and live music.

Not Another Drop, Brent's anti-gun and knife crime initiative, has its fifth annual peace march on Saturday. Hundreds are expected.