London link-ups: What’s behind teenage mass gatherings?

“A link-up is a bunch of kids basically just coming together to play music, have fun, talk,” Prince, 18, tells me.

“The only thing they’re coming for is fun,” Adnan, 18, agrees.

“They don’t think, ‘oh, what if this happens? What if that happens?’ Only thing they care about is there’s going to be a link-up with my age group. I want to be there so I don’t miss out.”

Prince, Adnan and 16-year-old Henry are all ambassadors for the Hackney-based youth group Voyage, which describes itself as a social justice charity tackling racial imbalance in London.

They insist that, for most young people, there’s no intention to cause trouble.

“It’s this common misconception that young people always want to be inside, glued to their phones,” Henry smiles.

“We actually do like that human connection.”

Just a few days after the incidents in Clapham, London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan announced he would fund at least one late night youth club for every borough.

“We used to have a youth club right next to our school, so as soon as we finished school all the kids knew to go to,” Adnan tells me.

“We had youth workers – even the police would sometimes come by, have fun.”

He adds that the club no longer exists.