Man shot dead at anti-gun march

2002-11-30 21:26

London - A march by mothers protesting gun violence was re-routed by police on Saturday after a man was shot and killed along its intended path.

Police diverted the march - organised by community groups including Mothers Against Guns - around Pharaoh's Pub in the Peckham area of south London.

Scotland Yard said a man in his 20s was killed in a shooting at the bar at around 05:00 Saturday. Another was in stable condition in hospital.

"This latest shooting demonstrates the seriousness of the problem. Someone's life has been taken and the government needs to do something stronger that will act as a deterrent," said marcher Lesley Cope, whose son Damien was killed in a shooting in July.

Cope joined about 50 marchers - including 15 mothers who lost children to gun violence- to demand longer prison sentences for gun crime.

"Tougher sentences would act as a deterrent, they would show these gunmen that we will not accept this in our community," she said.

Britain has strict gun-control laws, but police have been battling a spate of black-on-black shootings, many thought to involve Jamaican "Yardie" gangs. This year, there have been 18 killings and about 170 shootings involving young black men in London, police say.

Police also fear London's crime families are on the brink of turf wars for control of Britain's heroin and cocaine trade.

Earlier this month, several dozen gang members armed with guns, bats and knives clashed on a busy shopping street in a predominantly Turkish area of north London. One man was killed and more than 20 injured. - Sapa-AP

- SAPA