Gardiner says Lurgan Trouble raises UK-wide issue of controlling gang culture
Ulster Unionist Assemblyman, Sam Gardiner MLA, has condemned the trouble in Edward Street, Lurgan at the weekend.
“I am glad to say this flare up was easily contained by police with the help of community workers. This kind of disorder is going nowhere and it raises the issue of what we are going to do about gang culture among teenagers. Now that tougher measures are being introduced against knife crime, we need to turn our attention to the eradication of the gang culture which leads so many young people into trouble, not just here in Northern Ireland but across the UK.”
“The young people involved in the fracas need to ask themselves – what am I doing with my life, what is really in this for me ? The truth is they are going nowhere and they are risking a great deal which they may bitterly regret in later life when they are trying to make something of their lives. They need to be asking very searching questions abut the motives of the people who led them into this.”
“The days when disorder would be tolerated are now behind us. There is no longer any credible political cover for this kind of disturbance. The young people involved need to step back from this irrational and ultimately self-destructive behaviour.”