A group of organisations working to tackle violent crime in London have said that “violence has now become normalised”.

Earlier today the London assembly police and crime committee met with a number of organisations working to tackle the surge in violent crimes in the capital.

So far this year 62 murders have been recorded by the Metropolitan Police.

Darlington Mutsekwa, who works for youth group Ignite Trust in Harrow, said: “Violence has been completely normalised, every day we are breaking up fights.

“There is greater access to weapons and just that fact alone is causing the severity of injuries to be greater.”

According to the MPS put of the 62 murders that have taken place in the capital this year 39 were committed using knifes and by using firearms.

Other guests involved in the discussion agreed that violence had been normalised with young people not involved in gangs carrying knives.

Commenting on possible solutions to reducing violent crime Mr Mutsekwa said: “There are so many organisations trying to work with young people but at the same time so much funding has been cut from organisations.

“We are fighting against cuts and a loss of police on the streets. There has to be more police presence on the streets.

“People from shopkeepers, to parents, to elderly people are scared to walk the streets.”

Kevin Southworth, head of trident and area crime command for the Metropolitan Police, said: “We have seen many young people involved in knife crime that are not necessarily in gangs, there is a whole cohort of young people.

“We will continue to work together to tackle the violence, as well as focusing on social media to try and stop the spread of violent crime.”

The government’s first-ever Serious Violence Strategy was released in April this year and highlighted the impact of social media on violent crime.

The report said the availability of smartphones has “created an almost unlimited opportunity for rivals to antagonise each other, and for those taunts to be viewed by a much larger audience for a much longer period”, sparking cycles of tit-for-tat violence.

Leone Buncombe from the Rugby Portobello Trust, a youth group in Kensington added: “Social media contributes to the normalisation of violence because people are always seeing violent videos online.”