Youth worker's warning after video of young men fighting with knives in Nottingham goes viral

Youth workers are warning it could become normal to see young people roaming the streets of Nottingham with knives.

Marcellus Baz, CEO of Nottingham youth crime prevention charity Switch Up says proposed cuts to vital services for young people could lead to the rise in violent crime.

Nottingham City Council are considering the cutbacks as part of their plans to try and balance the books after effectively declaring bankruptcy at the end of last year.

Marcellus says: "Our concerns are if our resources and provisions are being reduced and depleted...that means we're going out to fight a war without any armor.

"Without any tools, without any resources.

"We should be getting this funding so we can crack on and we can make this city safe".

"Shocking, devastating but not surprising"

This comes as police continue to search for two groups of young men, involved in a knife fight, in broad daylight in Nottingham city centre.

A video of the incident went viral over the weekend.

Nottinghamshire Police officers were called to Weekday cross, near the Nottingham Contemporary, just after 12.30pm on Wednesday (31st January).

A search was carried out but everyone involved had left, the force said.

Police say no injuries were reported.

Chief Inspector Karl Thomas said: “I have seen the footage of this incident and share the same sense of revulsion that other viewers will feel.

“Detectives are investigating what happened as a matter of urgency and are working at speed to identify all the young people involved.

“I urge anyone who recognises them to get in touch with as soon as possible. Although incidents of this nature are rare, we fully understand the concern they cause in the community.

“I want to reassure everybody about just how seriously we are treating this incident.

“We are working every day to remove weapons from our streets and also to educate young people about the dangers of carrying them.

“Incidents of this nature underscore just how important that work is and why it is such a high priority for Nottinghamshire Police.”

Commenting on the footage, Marcellus said: "In one split second we could have been watching a murder.

"Switch Up is dedicated to engaging these sort of young people away from crime and violence.

"It's frustrating when we have to keep looking over our backs for funding to be able to do this sort of work."

"Extremely tough decisions"

Cllr David Mellen, the Leader of Nottingham City Council, said: “In Nottingham, a Section 114 had had to be issued for the current year as the cost of providing care for adults and children and people presenting as homeless has meant we simply can’t balance our budget this year.

"This means officers have had to put forward proposals for significant savings and service reductions which no-one would want to make but have to be considered by councillors if the council is to meet its legal requirement to set a balanced budget. The proposals include some valued services and funding that we have been able to continue to provide in Nottingham but have already been stopped by many other councils. Some of the proposals reluctantly have support from the Majority Group on the council, whereas others do not have that support at this stage. We are seeking views of the public on all proposals put forward.

“All of our services are important to us as councillors. Like many other councils, we are the faced with some extremely tough decisions over the coming months with our budget gap next year being the worst in living memory. But we are all in this position due to the continued underfunding of local government over many years and the huge increases we are seeing in demand for services as a result of the national cost of living and housing crises.

“We want to be open and transparent about the scale of the challenge the council faces and the difficult decisions that need to be made"

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