Witnesses described seeing the man armed with a knife as passengers scrambled to escape Hackney Central Overground Station where reports of the attack were instantly published on social media with people warning others to stay away. However the incident in East London went largely unreported at the time of the event by Britain's main stream media.
#hackneycentral here is the man who pulled a knife out on our moving overground train and stabbed someone severely. Panic and pandemonium experienced, people screaming. Words fail to describe the sheer horror. pic.twitter.com/GZYh9vlWVa
— Lili (@Laekkersild) October 2, 2018
#hackneycentral i was on the overground train home when a man pulled out his knife.Total panic on a moving train with people charging down the carriage. I cannot explain the feeling of being trapped on a train,with no idea of how the things went from calm to total horror. pic.twitter.com/p4hWLjW5qh
— Lili (@Laekkersild) October 2, 2018
Avoid Hackney Central. Some guy just pulled out a knife on my overground train and the staff are saying he stabbed someone. Absolutely terrifying. #HackneyCentral pic.twitter.com/tSwX4250i5
— Joe Street (@joestreet18) October 2, 2018
The ignorance of the event prompted questions from people on Twitter asking if the UK mainstream media is "bored with knife crime"?
@BBCBreaking Hello… Is there anyone there?….
— Ron Murphy (@ronmurp) October 2, 2018
I think they've gone to bed. I'll leave a note…
Dear @BBCBreaking. Morning has broken. Unfortunately the news of #HackneyCentral broke while you were sleeping. Are you bored with knife crime? Is it no longer breaking news?
what really pisses me off about this government is that a mad man has gone on the rampage at #Hackneycentral stabbing a poor man in the chest but its not reported on any news on tv #newsblackout
— Shed4Ever (@Shed4Ever) October 2, 2018
@BBCLondonNews any news on the 'man on rampage with knife' reports of a stabbing at #HackneyCentral in rush hour @amhurstroad now chock-a-block with traffic and Hackney Central station closed @MPSHackneyCentr on scene
— Russ_Hackney (@Russ_Hackney) October 2, 2018
"The knife was about a foot long. We got to Hackney Central and everyone rushed out, we were climbing over each other. I was screaming," Esther Faleti from Romford to London's Evening Standard.
"The guy got out onto the platform and out of the station and was still threatening to stab people."
Another passenger told The Standard, "The police arrived really quickly and they grabbed him and had him up against the police car."
READ MORE: Teenager Dumped & Left to Die as London Mayor Launches Anti-Knife Crime Campaign
London's Metropolitan Police is tackling an upsurge in knife crime while Mayor Sadiq Khan is being criticized for the unprecedented rise in youth violence.
British Transport Police is investigating the incident which happened around 18:00 GMT. "Just after 6pm, BTP officers, along with colleagues from the Metropolitan police service, were called to a report of a man having been stabbed at Hackney Central Overground Station."
"The London ambulance service has taken the victim to hospital, where he is being treated for his injuries. A man has been arrested."
A third of all crimes reported in London are classed as violent, including harassment, assault, wounding, grievous bodily harm, violence with an offensive weapon and murder, according to recent statistics published by the Met.
Meanwhile the scourge of knife crime in Britain's communities isn't only being ignored by the mainstream media in London, in Birmingham, Britain's second largest city, people feel ignored by politics in London.
READ MORE: Stabbings & Killings "Big Problem, Not Just in London" Youth Worker
"We think it's important to remind people life in the rest of the country goes on," Marc Reeves, editor of Birmingham Mail told BBC Newsnight at the Conservative Party Conference.
I hope I got an important point across. Thanks and respect to @ali_Cope for so bravely speaking out on knife crime for all these years. https://t.co/8AnugsbVWG
— Marc Reeves (@marcreeves) October 1, 2018
The editor of the regional newspaper was speaking ahead of the publication of the paper on the day Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her speech, featuring the headline, "How many more children have to die, Mrs May?"
Very powerful front page of the Birmingham Mail today timed for the Prime Minister and Home Sec being in town.
— Kate Proctor (@KateProctorES) October 2, 2018
Mum makes plea for radical change on how knife crime is tackled. pic.twitter.com/4ubH17qzTT
"Literally 300 yards from where they are sitting the story of knife crime is being played out on the streets of Birmingham. At the same time over nine years police numbers have dropped by 25 percent," editor Marc Reeves said.
"In the year up to the end of March there were 20 murders due to knife crime in Birmingham, that' 100 percent up on the previous year," he added.
"Whatever the debate around Brexit, people are dying on the streets of Birmingham. They want to see that on the agenda for a change," Mark Reeves said.
READ MORE: Rival Gang Deaths on UK Streets 'A Disease' Former Gang Member Tells Sputnik
In the 24 hours before Mrs. May took to the stage to address the Conservative Party Conference, Birmingham witnessed a crime wave.
Footage emerged, taken by a passerby, capturing the moment a youth is thrown to the ground surrounded after being repeatedly stabbed by a gang wielding knives.
Birmingham city centre triple stabbing: 'They kept stamping on him, but he wasn't moving': Three people suffered stab wounds after a massive brawl outside McDonald's in Dale End https://t.co/s9rQu3Z4Vj
— Cannock Chase Radio FM (@CannockRadio) October 3, 2018
As the Conservative party conference comes to a close in Birmingham, the message from a mother of a murder victim to the Prime Minister is to "wake up to knife crime that is killing our kids." Mother Alison Cope wants the PM to treat the issue of knife crime as seriously as riots or terrorism.
Thank you Marc, people don't always understand why I speak out, but when knife crime touches their world they will. https://t.co/YUv2U3gl38
— Alison Cope (@ali_Cope) October 3, 2018
