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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Emma Lawson

Lanarkshire parents call for urgent meeting to address youth violence

Calls have been made for a public meeting to address spiralling youth disorder in Rutherglen.

Residents of Burnside feel that urgent steps need to be taken.

And some concerned parents are pushing for a sit-down with the authorities to tackle the ongoing situation.

Allison Black, who is a member of Burnside community council, said: “There have been calls for a public meeting of some sort regarding the issue.

“I think the public feeling in general is that nothing is happening.

“I’ve contacted the police and other organisations about the situation and spoke to the anti-social behaviour unit of the police.

“Police have increased patrols in the area, and they have spoken with South Lanarkshire Council about CCTV, they're also speaking to private residences that have cameras in the area.

“They have said that it is all children involved and there was a limit to what could be done.

“If the community feels a public meeting would be useful with the police there, we will arrange a meeting. We were hoping to do it before the schools broke up, but it’s not enough time, so we need to find a big enough space to accommodate a lot of people.

“The feeling is to wait a few weeks and check in with the police and see how it’s going. If it’s not getting any better then we can get the meeting planned. We then need to tackle the issue head-on.

“Covid hasn’t helped, with all the groups that were designed to help keep children occupied stopped taking place."

Parents in Burnside have been voicing concerns for several weeks.

Details of a number of the incidents have been posted on the Burnside Residents’ Facebook page to alert others.

One worried mum has contacted Burnside community council.

She said: “I witnessed one of the attacks a few weeks ago and saw how violent it was and how little concern the gang had for anyone.

“I’m worried that my children are going to come home with injuries.”

She added: “I’ve been involved with community groups for a while and spoke to Councillor Robert Brown to see if there was some sort of way to arrange a meeting for the police to come and reassure people.

“We have a serious issue here, and someone is going to get badly injured. It’s all down to the parents of these kids, there’s no one reining them in.”

Police have confirmed that a series of incidents have occurred within Burnside as well as other areas in Rutherglen.

Inspector Kevin Miller, from Rutherglen Police Station, said: “Police in the Rutherglen and Burnside areas have received a few reports of youth-related violence and disorder over the past few months and have carried out extensive enquiries into each of these incidents.

“Local police have increased patrols in the area and deployed additional officers to provide further community reassurance. As always, we would encourage anyone with any concerns to contact police on 101, or 999 in an emergency.”

The police have also confirmed another incident possibly took place last Saturday.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Police received a report of a possible disturbance on Viewpark Drive around 6pm on Saturday, June 18. Officers attended, however, there was nothing ongoing upon arrival and there was no trace of any weapons.”

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