Politicians and police vow to stamp out antisocial yobs in New Malden

Councillors from St James ward and officers from the safer neighbourhood team talked with traders and residents at a community meeting on Monday at the Fountain pub in New Malden.

The move came after traders told the Surrey Comet they experienced staff being beaten up, property smashed and customers harassed by Tamil youths.

It is also understood Tamil and Indian restaurants were also being targeted by groups of Tamil youths refusing to pay for meals.

Councillor Yogan Yoganathan, former chairman of Kingston’s Racial Equality Council and campaigner on behalf of the Tamil community, attended the meeting.

He said: “This has been a very positive meeting, which has highlighted the need for the council to continue to work in partnership with the police and the community in the hope we can stamp out this behaviour.

“We must make it abundantly clear we will not tolerate intimidation or harassment of people in our borough.

“The shopkeepers along Burlington Road have worked very hard for their businesses and should not have to live in fear.

“We must try to engage with these young people so that we can get to the cause of this lawlessness and bring about a peaceful solution to the problem.”

One trader at the meeting, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, praised the police for their response to the problems but also called for CCTV to be installed.

Speaking afterwards he said: “This meeting was good for us as a community because we were finally given the opportunity to talk about what is really going on.

“The police visit us regularly now and so far we have had no more trouble.

“It has been reassuring to know they are taking our problems seriously and I have nothing but good things to say about the way they have handled things.

“However, they can’t be watching us all the time and cameras on the street would act as a deterrent to these youths so that the ringleaders can be identified and dealt with.”