Sawt Falasteen - A year of homicide in the British capital

Raindrops cover the cellophane of decaying flowers left outside a fried chicken shop in Camberwell. On Primrose Hill, half-empty bottles of wine from a tragic New Year's Eve party lie on the damp grass.

Elsewhere, yellowing bouquets can be found under trees, by a terraced house down a suburban side street and a supermarket store front.

Tributes are left outside a school, on a canal towpath, near a nightclub, in a park and the graffiti-ed wall of a deserted industrial estate.

Photos of the victims are often taped to the poles of street signs. Ink runs on scribbled notes of condolence.

At the more elaborate makeshift memorials, helium balloons, tealight candles, packets of sweets and a football shirt are left as offerings.

The Metropolitan Police said there were 110 recorded homicides in 2023 in the 620-square-mile (1,605-square-kilometre) Greater London area for which it is responsible -- one more than in 2022.

Of the 110 victims, 91 were male and 19 female.

- 'Stop killing each other' -

In the clinical accounting of crime statistics, 14 deaths were classed as domestic homicides, an 18-percent fall on the preceding 12 months.

Twenty-one of those killed overall were teenagers -- a 50-percent increase year on year -- while 71 of the deaths involved a knife.

The young age of the victims and the manner of their deaths has not gone unnoticed in the UK, fuelling public and political concern about knife crime and prompting calls to act.

Among them are those trying to stop London Mayor Sadiq Khan from securing a third term of office at local elections in May, and their media backers, who have branded the capital "lawless London".

The criticism adds to that of Khan's expansion of a road-charging scheme for the most polluting vehicles, to cut damaging air pollution.

"Sadiq Khan has simply not done enough, and we cannot afford another four years under his watch," said Conservative mayoral hopeful Susan Hall, in reference to her Labour party rival.

But Khan blames Tory central government cuts, saying they have effectively left police to fight crime with "one hand tied behind their backs".

At a roadside shrine to a 15-year-old girl stabbed to death as she made her way to school in September, the message is clear.

"Youth stop killing each other. No to stabbing. No to violence," one sign read.

But as 2024 begins, there has been no let-up in the bloodshed.

photo-phz/jwp

P.Tamimi--SF-PST