Off The Streets anti-knife peaceful protest march in Market Square, Northampton on Saturday, May 7 2022.Off The Streets anti-knife peaceful protest march in Market Square, Northampton on Saturday, May 7 2022.
Off The Streets anti-knife peaceful protest march in Market Square, Northampton on Saturday, May 7 2022.

See 29 pictures from the anti-knife march in Northampton town centre to mark Knife Angel's visit

Many residents got together in Market Square over the weekend for an afternoon of entertainment to unite against knife crime

A peaceful anti-knife march took place in Northampton town centre over the weekend to mark the Knife Angel’s visit.

The event was organised by the Off The Streets NN group, which campaigns against knife crime in the county and works to promote education on the harm it can cause. The organisation also installs ‘bleed kits’ in public to provide life-saving first aid in the event of a stabbing.

The march was held on Saturday, May 7 in partnership with West Northamptonshire Council, C2C Local Action, Knife Crime Victim Support and Lay It Down! among others.

Director of Off The Streets, Ravaun Jones, told this newspaper: “Our first reaction was it’s a good thing coming to our Northampton community in raising awareness. Hopefully it will help people understand more about what the knife angel means and what it represents.

“After the death of Dylan Holliday, it became about raising awareness. We realised that we need to do more as a community and do more to help our community.”

The event featured a broad range of speakers - including past victims of knife crime - as well as live performances from groups including African drumming group, ‘Dancing Drums’ and DJ Aeon.

Mr Jones continued: “This event has got different groups, from different backgrounds, different religions, everything. There are some areas that people won’t walk through between communities because they’re afraid of being beaten up and it can get quite petty, to be honest.

"So we’re trying to bring everyone together in one place and show that we can work together as a community to keep our young people from making the wrong choices.”

Money raised from the event will go towards installing more bleed kits around Northamptonshire, as well as amnesty bins where people can dispose of their unwanted knives safely.

The next peaceful march will take place on Saturday, May 14 starting from Shelley Road basketball courts to Old Grammarians in Wellingborough.

For more information, visit the Off The Streets NN Facebook group.

Here are 29 pictures from the anti-knife march in Market Square on Saturday, May 7:

The march was held on Saturday, May 7 in partnership with West Northamptonshire Council, C2C Local Action, Knife Crime Victim Support and Lay It Down! among others.