Staff at South London nightclubs are being escorted to their cars by police after two men were stabbed in a what police are treating as a homophobic attack outside a gay bar at the weekend.
Officers have upped their week night patrols in LBGT+ clubbing destinations Clapham and Vaxuhall following the stabbing outside the Two Brewers on Clapham High Street on Sunday night (August 13).
The attack at around 22:15 left the two men with injuries needing hospital treatment.
The victims, in their 20s and 30s, have now returned home.
PC Hayley Jones, the Met’s LGBT+ community liaison officer for Lambeth and Southwark, said a minibus of six officers and a sergeant were roaming the area everyday this week.
She said police were also speaking to revellers outside venues to reassure them.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) on Wednesday, August 16, she said: “They are speaking to people outside the venues. They are escorting staff to their cars and things, so they are upping their game in that respect.
“We have increased cover in Vauxhall and Clapham. [There’s] a minibus of six police officers and a sergeant and they stick to those areas.
“That’s what we have normally at the weekends and we have expanded it so it has been every night this week… And we’re focusing more on Clapham.”
Yesterday (Tuesday, August 15), police released a CCTV image of a man they want to identity following the attack. The photo was taken from outside the venue at the time of the stabbing.
Lambeth Council has condemned the attack and said its thoughts are with the victims.
Dr. Mahamed Hashi, the council’s cabinet member for safer communities, said: “This is a really distressing incident and our thoughts are with the two men who are now recovering from the attack, and their friends and family who will be deeply affected by this violence.
“I roundly condemn those who perpetrate violence in our borough, those who carry knives and those who carry out hate crimes against our communities.
“There is absolutely no tolerance for hatred of this kind in our borough and we will work with the police to ensure that action is taken swiftly to deal with this terrible incident and prevent incidents of this kind in the future.”
