A community group says it is a “constant battle” to de-escalate situations with young people that could turn violent.
Kingsway Community Connections (KCC) has raised further concerns over violence affecting youths.
It comes after the charity, which is based in the north-west of Glasgow, called for urgent action to be taken to tackle the issue just last month.
Recently, official figures revealed that there has been a significant increase in the number of children accused of attempted murder in Scotland this year.
Between April and June 2025, there were 17 cases, allegedly involving 20 children, whereas during the same three-month period in 2024, there were five cases.
Reacting to the figures, Jamie O’Neill, community development worker at KCC, explained that “things can escalate so quickly” and that a lot of the group’s work is focused on prevention and supporting youngsters.
He said: “In the last few weeks, we just feel it’s constant. It’s at a point where we’re getting phone calls at night because something’s kicked off, boys have shown up from different areas, or it's parents phoning.
“Young people are constantly engaged in their phones, bombarded with the algorithms sending them violence and stuff like that, and they’re in group chats, and it’s like they get caught up in this sort of world.
“You know, back in the day, when you played online, you could pretend you were someone else. It’s almost like the young people are trying to pretend they’re characters on these chats, and when it comes to face-to-face meetings, they have to back that up.
“It’s a constant battle to de-escalate things.”
READ NEXT: Glasgow youth work services at 'breaking point', says charity
According to justice publication, 1919 Magazine, concerns centre on attempted murder cases where adults are named as co-accused. There are fears that organised criminals are using youths to commit crime.
A report on youth violence, which was presented to the Scottish Police Authority, stated that overall violence among under-18s has dropped, with fewer violent crimes and cases where a child was caught with a weapon.
However, the rise in attempted murders is something the report authors described as “concerning”.
KCC has been working tirelessly to support youngsters in the Scotstoun area through building relationships with them to prevent violence.
Earlier this year, the charity suffered the devastating loss of one of its members, 15-year-old Amen Teklay, who died after being found seriously injured in a street in Maryhill.
Following Amen’s death, KCC hosted a meeting to discuss developing a ‘coordinated emergency response’ to tackle violence affecting young people.
Jamie highlighted that the situation is “frightening” and the group is worried about what might happen if action isn’t taken soon.
READ NEXT: Glasgow youth project to take over vacant sports centre
He added: “I know for a fact young people don’t want violence. Young people need places to go, and they need to feel ownership of those spaces.
“Then they build trust, and then they’re speaking to adults. Adults need to be involved in these discussions with young people because we’re not in the chatrooms and we’re not in the group chats.
“There’s no easy way other than to just have these conversations and build those relationships with young people where they will come to you when they’re in trouble.
“When it hits a crisis point and they can’t deal with it anymore and need an adult, they know when they phone me, the first thing I’m going to do is make them safe and then get the community police involved.
“We’re at the point now where they’re bypassing me, and they’ll tell the community police things. That’s the way we need to be moving forward; we put so much work into that.
“The worst thing is if another young person is seriously injured or worse, and we’ve been sitting going ‘what is anybody doing about it?’”
READ NEXT: Bank on Us: Drumchapel Food Bank in urgent plea for donations
KCC recently found out that it was unsuccessful in its bid for the national CashBack for Communities scheme.
The organisation says this leaves them without dedicated youth work funding beyond 2025.
The charity previously warned that the lack of funding reflects a “wider crisis across the sector” where smaller, community-based organisations are said to be struggling to keep services running amid “rising demand and shrinking resources”.
KCC believes youth work should be recognised as an “essential” part of communities. The Scottish Government commented that it “recognises the transformational impact” that youth work has on young people and the ways it supports measures in tackling anti-social behaviour.
For further information about KCC and the work it does, visit the charity’s website HERE.
Share