Activists say Covid and social media have led to escalation
gang members based in the Niddriearea of Edinburgh threatening their west-coast counterparts.
With thousands of views, the short f ilm featuring drill music shows dozens of teenagers with captions saying they will “maul yous”.
Social media pages namechecked gangs including Young Niddrie Team, Young Clerry Jungle, Yo u n g Me n t a l Ox g a ng s , You ng Pilton Derry and Yo u n g Me nt a l Saughton – al l based in Edinburgh ’ s most deprived areas.
In Glasgow, gangs including the Cranhill Fleeto and Castlemilk Young Team are also named in online videos.
One Lanarkshire- based youth worker said: “It’s as bad as I can remember. Some parts of Scotland have returned to the dark days where teenagers were scared to leave their schemes.
“Mostly, it’s being driven by Covid. Boredom because everything was shut. Now things have opened again, kids are getting out — and that’s not always good. I’ve heard of gangs names that haven’t been heard of since the 1970s and 1980s. The gangs some of these kids’ grandparents were in.”
The SVRU helped cripple Scotland’s gang culture more than a decade ago with v iolence plummeting to record lows.
Deputy director Wi l l Linden warned that much of its success predates widespread use of social media, where minor sl ights can now erupt into violent encounters on the street.
Linden said: “When we started we didn’t have the noise of social media to the same extent. The online world
Online world has been good during lockdown but it’s helped them antagonise each other
has been good for young people in a lot of ways during lockdown.
“But in other ways it’s helped to antagonise each other.
“The problem with the onl ine world is previously when Johnny said something about Stevie, it would quickly disappear.
“But when its goes online, it never really goes away. Things that were allowed to pass before don’t now – there are constant reminders. And that is driving the violence.”
Colin MacFarlane, who was involved in Glasgow underworld in the 60s in the Gorbals area of the city and has written extensively about ut it, said some of the city’s s most infamous gangs were e making a comeback.
He said Glasgow gangs s like The Calton Tongs – so o feared that Strathclyde e Pol ice issued a press s statement in 2011 to o celebrate its demise – had d reappeared.
He said: “I ’ ve heard d repor t s that famous s Glasgow gangs like The h Tongs and The Cumbie, who I was in way back in the 1960s, have made a
comeback. But it’s hard to tell how serious they are and whet her it ju st people hijacking their grandparents’ stories for street credibility.”
In 2009, the SVRU named and shamed some of Scotland’s worst gangs, all of who were based in the West of Scotland.
The roll of dishonour included the Cumbernauld Carbrain Young Fleeto, Bellshill Young Team, Cambuslang Halfway Fleeto, Glasgow Whitlawburn Techno Young Skull Team and Glasgow Shamrock.
Linden said: “Gang v iolence among young people has never
disappeared, it’s not gone away. It’s nowhere near previous levels but we are concerned.”
A spokesman for WhatsAppp sasaid d that as a private messaging service,ice, it does not have access to the contents tents of people’s personal chats butut it provides easy ways for users to block lock and report other accounts.
TikTok said: “Content that depicts icts gang culture in a way that promotes otes illegal criminal activities, incites tes violence, or contains credible ble threats of violence is not tolerated ed on our platform and we have ve removed the videos in question.” .”
A spokeswoman for Instagram m added that it removes a l l graphic images or videos when n they celebrate or glorify violencece or the suffering of others, including uding animals.