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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder whether the media headlines about teenage gatherings in Clapham have been a bit exaggerated?

155 replies

Carla786 · 03/04/2026 03:00

I live near but not in Clapham. I understand it must be very scary if you are in the area, having these crowds of teenagers suddenly turning up.
But AIBU to think the media are exaggerating the danger? I have heard there was some looting and one girl arrested for attacking a police officer but overall there doesn't seem to have been mass violence or theft. Just a lot of teens, some of them disturbingly masked, gathering in one place in big numbers because of some TikTok trend.

I honestly wonder if all the media coverage was unhelpful in the sense that it may have given them the reaction they wanted.

AIBU?

OP posts:
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6
Sometimeswinning · 03/04/2026 20:29

OonaStubbs · 03/04/2026 20:19

Yes. And do away with the "human rights" garbage for prisoners. If they want to behave like animals, treat them like animals.

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Oh crumbs. You’re serious! Maybe find someone else to chat to. I think you sound silly. FYI. None of what you say will work.

greenteaandlimes · 03/04/2026 20:26

Having seen the footage, I think it has been grossly UNDERreported

OonaStubbs · 03/04/2026 20:19

Sometimeswinning · 03/04/2026 20:03

Prisons are overcrowded. Do you want to build more?

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Yes. And do away with the "human rights" garbage for prisoners. If they want to behave like animals, treat them like animals.

Sometimeswinning · 03/04/2026 20:10

Wipeywipey · 03/04/2026 20:04

As I said, educate your kids not to follow socials like sheep. Don't be a reform voting idiot and do whatever someone you never met and probably doesn't exist tells you to do. Critical thinking.

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You’re not showing a lot of it. What if the parents are shit? How do they teach their kids not to be shit? Who teaches them?

Wipeywipey · 03/04/2026 20:04

Sometimeswinning · 03/04/2026 19:57

Fantastic. What’s your approach? I’m going with honest but you seem to have a better answer?

Im happy to be shot down.

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As I said, educate your kids not to follow socials like sheep. Don't be a reform voting idiot and do whatever someone you never met and probably doesn't exist tells you to do. Critical thinking.

Sometimeswinning · 03/04/2026 20:03

OonaStubbs · 03/04/2026 19:59

Lock them up and keep them locked up. That is the only answer that has been proven to work, time after time.

Prisons are overcrowded. Do you want to build more?

OonaStubbs · 03/04/2026 19:59

Lock them up and keep them locked up. That is the only answer that has been proven to work, time after time.

Sometimeswinning · 03/04/2026 19:57

Wipeywipey · 03/04/2026 19:49

I'm sure that approach will resolve it all.

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Fantastic. What’s your approach? I’m going with honest but you seem to have a better answer?

Im happy to be shot down.

PoppinjayPolly · 03/04/2026 19:56

Wipeywipey · 03/04/2026 19:49

I'm sure that approach will resolve it all.

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Well the approach of “poor beleaguered vulnerable deprived babies,, who should never hold responsibility for their actions” is going so well!

Wipeywipey · 03/04/2026 19:49

Sometimeswinning · 03/04/2026 19:45

Just don’t. Adults constantly giving people a get out of jail card is the issue. Covid. Send. Social media. Please feel free to add excuses for these kids. This isn’t countrywide. This is a specific area.

It’s crappy parenting. Children with zero empathy. Intelligence at an all time low. Zero respect.

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I'm sure that approach will resolve it all.

Sometimeswinning · 03/04/2026 19:45

Wipeywipey · 03/04/2026 18:38

I think there is some truth to this - we all need to make our teens aware that fake videos are riling people up and not to follow like sheep. Show them how many get stuck up mountains after believing a tiktok trail, people falling off cliffs for a photo...these platforms thrive on lack of critical thinking and group psychology and we know how political these sites have become. Farage will be having a field day.

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Just don’t. Adults constantly giving people a get out of jail card is the issue. Covid. Send. Social media. Please feel free to add excuses for these kids. This isn’t countrywide. This is a specific area.

It’s crappy parenting. Children with zero empathy. Intelligence at an all time low. Zero respect.

Wipeywipey · 03/04/2026 18:38

Carla786 · 03/04/2026 13:11

I think the headlines about 'carnage' , 'riots' etc were exaggerated given the actual looting and violence, terrible as it was, seems to have been a minority.. on the other thread, some are claiming more got away who should not have, so maybe there was more we don't yet know about .
Why do you think it's silly to suggest the CCP could have been encouraging it? We know China owns TikTok, deliberately makes it disruptive & addictive, and there's evidence of more.

Edited
Show quote history

I think there is some truth to this - we all need to make our teens aware that fake videos are riling people up and not to follow like sheep. Show them how many get stuck up mountains after believing a tiktok trail, people falling off cliffs for a photo...these platforms thrive on lack of critical thinking and group psychology and we know how political these sites have become. Farage will be having a field day.

Nosejobnelly · 03/04/2026 16:01

Wipeywipey · 03/04/2026 09:52

I think every town in the country has a group of teens and wrong-uns that hang around outside McDonalds. It is a magnet for bad behaviour where I live.

Same near me too in a London suburb.

Wolmando · 03/04/2026 14:17

It was being downplayed if anything, earlier in the week

Wolmando · 03/04/2026 14:10

One of the shop employees had ammonia thrown in their face.

IhatethatIhaveto · 03/04/2026 13:47

ilovebrie8 · 03/04/2026 13:40

Agree!

it’s appalling behaviour an all recorded on social media …it’s as clear as day who the culprits are.

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Where I live there are a group of teenage girls who are beating up other girls on buses, in the street and walking into shops racially abusing staff and stealing things. All being caught on camera and being named and not a thing is being done. The parents don't give a shit, so innocent people are being beaten up and small shop owners are having things stolen and their profits being damaged. The response from some in the community ranges from 'their just kids', there is nothing for them to do' and 'its just a few packets of crips, bottles of xyz'.
Adults making excuses, parents taking no responsibility and police doing nothing is making it 10 times worse.
My son is 18 and I would be ashamed if I thought he was doing this sort of stuff.

ilovebrie8 · 03/04/2026 13:40

IhatethatIhaveto · 03/04/2026 13:12

I don’t think it was overhyped. They are getting away with more and more and getting more and more brazen in what they get up to. There needs to be more consequences, especially if the parents aren’t dealing with it.

Agree!

it’s appalling behaviour an all recorded on social media …it’s as clear as day who the culprits are.

Netcurtainnelly · 03/04/2026 13:40

Dappy777 · 03/04/2026 13:31

Watch the YouTube footage. It's not kids letting off steam, it's a breakdown of civilization.

Exactly what do we expect when society is soft, all discipline was removed and there were no consequences for shoplifting

I Used to think one day people will just walk into shops and walk out with god's and not even try and hide it, and then I read this.

We need to go back to the drawing board and start again .
I think I'm right in saying in Australia there is no difference between children and adults committing crime in terms of sentencing.
Here we cant even name a person under 16 let alone give them an adult sentence.

DoraSpenlow · 03/04/2026 13:37

Shit kids with shit parents and soft touch authorities giving out ridiculously ineffective consequences.

Netcurtainnelly · 03/04/2026 13:35

Isn't it scummy. This is what happens when society breaks down. No discipline, no consequences for shoplifting, no respect, no parental control. Coming to a town nearby you one day sadly.

PropertyD · 03/04/2026 13:31

Who are these teens, where are their parents and what are the consequences?

If the parents don’t care and there are no consequences what do you think is likely to happen?

Dappy777 · 03/04/2026 13:31

Watch the YouTube footage. It's not kids letting off steam, it's a breakdown of civilization.

InterestedDad37 · 03/04/2026 13:19

Carla786 · 03/04/2026 13:11

I think the headlines about 'carnage' , 'riots' etc were exaggerated given the actual looting and violence, terrible as it was, seems to have been a minority.. on the other thread, some are claiming more got away who should not have, so maybe there was more we don't yet know about .
Why do you think it's silly to suggest the CCP could have been encouraging it? We know China owns TikTok, deliberately makes it disruptive & addictive, and there's evidence of more.

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The idea of a bunch of CCP top bods sitting in a room, shouting "now go Mcdonald!" and "now raid fridge at Mark Spark!" or "now run dow middle of road!" down the phone to a bunch of teenage thugs who've had too much caffeine is comical. But it's essentially what you are suggesting has happened.
I know their intentions are generally not favourable to the West, but you're slipping down a conspiracy black hole

Original poster
Carla786 · 03/04/2026 13:13

Supersimkin7 · 03/04/2026 08:44

If anything the menace was underrated. It was the third time in this bit of Clapham - no one’s reported the first oh-so playful incident where they had to evacuate schools near me.

The adorable teens are it again tomorrow, so let’s see. Unless a few of them get painful consequences, they’ll presumably carry on.

Yes, of course food inflation is a cause of this social unrest. They’re raiding M&S food, not SportsDirect. But this ain’t how to fix it.

School were evacuated? Why wasn't this reported?

Very disturbing.

OP posts:
IhatethatIhaveto · 03/04/2026 13:12

I don’t think it was overhyped. They are getting away with more and more and getting more and more brazen in what they get up to. There needs to be more consequences, especially if the parents aren’t dealing with it.