Harriet Harman was attacked over the way she voiced concerns about drill music

Harriet Harman has been attacked by allies of Jeremy Corbyn for claiming so-called drill music and violent YouTube videos are behind London’s knife crime surge.

The hard-Left Momentum group, which is trying to oust the former deputy Labour leader as an MP, claims she is suggesting that the wave of stabbings were a ‘black-on-black’ problem caused by aggressive rap music.

The political assault on Miss Harman took place at a Labour knife crime summit in her constituency in south-east London on Saturday.

She had made a passionate plea to heed warnings from victims’ families, who she said believed drill music, YouTube and social media were fuelling gang warfare.

Miss Harman said: ‘They believe the internet is being used to plan and to incite violence and believe drill music and videos are used for criminal purposes.’

In just six days from October 31 to November 5 there were five fatal stabbings in south London.

The victims were Rocky Djelal, 38, Jai Sewell, 15, Malcolm Mide-Madariola, 17, Ayodeji Habeeb Azeez, 22, and a 16-year-old named locally as John O, who died on Monday.

Rocky Djejal (left) was stabbed twice in Southwark Park and Jai Sewell (right) was killed aged just 15

John O was knifed to death in Tulse Hill, a mile from Miss Harman’s Camberwell and Peckham constituency, becoming the 119th person to be killed in the capital this year – most of them in stabbings.

Last night, a gang openly taunted the teenage victim and bragged about the ferocity of the attack.

Malcolm Mide-Madariola (left) and Ayodeji Habeeb Azeez (right) were both stabbed to death

A sickening message was posted on YouTube by those thought to be responsible for his death.

The victim was set upon by a group of knife-wielding attackers as he waited for his mother to pick him up from the Tulse Hill estate.

She arrived to find him bleeding on the pavement and screamed for help. The murder is thought to be linked to rival drill music gangs – Lower Tulse Hill and the Harlem Spartans from nearby Kennington.

John O (pictured) was stabbed to death in Tulse Hill in front of his parents

A user called Spartan H posted a taunt on YouTube yesterday, in which it was claimed that John O, who is said to have performed rap music under the pseudonym JaySav, had his stomach ‘cut open like a bear’ before his mother was seen ‘screaming it ain’t fair’.

Using rap-style lyrics, he mocked the dead boy’s family and apparently claimed credit for the murder, ending the written message with a laughing emoticon.

A performer using the name JaySav has appeared on at least one violent rap track with the Lower Tulse Hill gang, which is thought to be an offshoot of TN1, or the Trust No One gang.

Yesterday, family members denied he was linked to the gang, stating: ‘He was retaking his GCSEs and was planning to go into engineering.’

What did Harriet Harman say about Drill music? Her warning on lyrics of hate The row began when Harriet Harman made this passionate plea at a crime summit on Saturday: When 23-year-old Siddique Kamara was stabbed to death yards from his home on the Brandon Estate in Southwark in August, his family were devastated. Three months earlier Rhyhiem Barton, 17, was shot dead in the same street. As I did after Rhyhiem’s death, the day after Siddique’s murder, I met police and local community representatives where the same concerns were raised. The shocked families highlighted the role of social media in gang violence. They believe the internet is being used to plan and to incite violence and believe drill music and videos are used for criminal purposes. Siddique was himself a ‘drill’ rapper by the name of Incognito. Before his death he spoke about its effect on crime: ‘You see, with the crime that’s happening right now, you’ve got to put your hands up and say drill music does influence it.’ The lyrics glorify gang warfare and include threats against rival gangs or individuals. In one track on YouTube, Moscow17 tell rival gang Zone 2 to ‘check the scoreboard’. Another video asks ‘how you gonna make it even?’ Zone 2 posted a song in response telling their rivals they would ‘roll up and burst them’. We need urgent action to prevent other families going through this heartbreak. Advertisement

Miss Harman made a direct link between drill and knife crime.

In a statement to the meeting on Saturday, she said that before he died, a stabbing victim had blamed drill music for knife crime.

Siddique Kamara, 23, a drill rapper known as Incognito, was killed in Southwark, south London, in August.

Miss Harman said that before his death, he said: ‘You see with the crime that’s happening now, music does influence it. You’ve got to put your hands up and say drill music does influence it.’

She added: ‘The lyrics glorify gang warfare and include threats against rival gangs or individuals.’ She said urgent action was needed to ‘prevent other families going through this heartbreak’.

But pro-Corbyn activists disputed her claims and attacked her at the meeting.

Left-winger Anita Patel was cheered when she accused Miss Harman of trying to ‘censor’ drill music and social media, and said it was wrong to suggest knife crime only involved black people. ‘Censoring music or the internet cannot be the answer,’ she said.

She added: ‘This is not a black-on-black crime. This is about austerity, zero-hour contracts and cuts.

'It’s killing everybody including young people. This is the root cause. Not drill music.’

Miss Harman did not attend the meeting, so her comments were read by an official.

At least three others have been stabbed in London since John O’s death.

A man in Hackney, west London, was airlifted to hospital at 2pm yesterday, a teenage boy was left with life-threatening injuries earlier in Shepherd’s Bush, west London, and a boy of 17 was fighting for his life last night after an attack in West Hampstead, north London, on Tuesday.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid urged police to ‘step up’ action against knife crime last night. He told Met chief Cressida Dick that officers should make ‘full use’ of powers such as stop and search.