To not let my 12 year old hand around in the town centre

[Twooclockrock]

12 year old son is in a huge mood as we have said no to letting him go and hang around in the town centre with friends.
A teen family member was stabbed two weeks ago nearby but not in the town centre (non life threatening) , his cousin was mugged in the town centre not long ago, and a friends son age 17 was approached by a group of kids who produced a knife and told him to get out of their area only three weeks ago.
Plus we have had several letters home from school saying to stay out of the highstreets due to the school wars thing going on this past week.
London suburbs, relatively nice area but bordered by some not so nice areas and the town centre is a known hang out for gangs.
It feels so restricting and mean to say no, but I am concerned for his safety and think it's not worth it.
Do you let your tween/tern hang out in the toen centre? Ie walk around the shops, grab some food etc? It used to be the main event of a saturday for me when I was his age.

We are in north Essex and have had emails from police via school about ‘red vs blue’ wars at the moment. Schools are divided into sides and are challenged to stab each other and video it to gain ‘points’.

Its utterly terrifying so if you are referring to that happening, then I’d absolutely keep your child from wandering in town centres until that passes.

The narrative on this thread seems to be that you’re over reacting but I won’t be taking any chances with my kid with this happening across Essex and London.

The police have reported that there have been no actual incidents emanating from these ‘school wars’.

Sounds like someone trying to stir up trouble.