Greenwich Young People's Council (GYPC) are hosting an anti-knife crime event with Charlton Athletic (CAFC) at the The Valley stadium today (February 14).

The event is titled "Choose Life, Not The Knife" and is co-sponsored by CAFC and a branch of the youth outreach group The Participation People.

GYPC said that 100 young people from across the Greenwich area had signed up to participate in the summit.

The event got underway earlier today (8.15am) and was set to feature a range of talks, events and workshops.

Promoting the summit earlier in the week, GYPC said: "Greenwich Young People's Council want young people across the borough to take a stand against knife crime. They are inviting...young people from your school, college and/or alternative education provision to come together to learn more about the facts around knife crime, learn the laws and responsibilities around knife possession AND learn some emergency first aid skills."

Keynote speakers, including those with first hand experience of knife crime, will host discussions throughout the day, while attendees can also give feedback from their communities to the senior decision makers from the borough who will also be attending.

Participants will receive specialist first aid course during the day which will specifically target emergency techniques related to knife-related violence.

GYPC urged all residents in the borough, but especially younger people, to follow the summit on Twitter using the hashtag #chooselife.

As the event began the group highlighted the disproportionate link young people had to knife crime in the community.

On Twitter, GYPC said: "In Greenwich, one third of knife crime suspects are 19 or younger — but only about one fifth of victims are 19 or younger #chooselife."

The summit is taking place amid persistent rises in knife crime throughout London in recent months.

In October, the The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that 14,987 knife crimes in the year to the end of June 2018 had occurred, and that this figure represented a 15 per cent rise on the comparable figure 12 months earlier.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has vowed to do more o tackle knife crime, including the creation of a created £45-million fund called the Young Londoners Fund with the aim of steering young people away from violent crime.

Earlier this week, Mr Khan revealed that 100 knife crime offenders from four of the city's knife crime hotspots — the boroughs of Lewisham, Lambeth, Croydon and Southwark would be fitted with GPS tracking devices in a bid to target re-offending related to knife crime in the city.