A few weeks ago, news emerged that 410 stars Skengdo x AM had been charged with breaching what the Metropolitan Police are calling an "interim gang injunction".
The incident stemmed from a live performance of the two rappers that was then posted online. The video had been recorded by someone else, but the police accused Skengdo and AM of "incit[ing] and encouraged violence against rival gang members" before when they posted it on social media. They were then given a nine month suspended prison sentence.
Now news has emerged that a civil rights group has delivered an open letter to the Met Police—signed by 65 people from human rights organisations alongside academics, lawyers, musicians and activists—that calls on the police to change their approach to gang violence.
Currently, the Met Police are using injunctions that prevent musicians from recording and appearing in videos as a means of cracking down on London gangs. The open letter argues such an approach is both "structurally racist" and "demonstrably ineffective at tackling youth violence".
You can read the full letter here via The Guardian.
