Monday 6 March 2017

Soup kitchen volunteers attacked in Great Yarmouth

From Great Yarmouth Mercury by George Ryan:

Soup kitchen volunteers have described their ordeal after they were attacked while they tried to help the homeless.

Around 50 youths on bicycles circled around the Tribal Trust’s minibus kitchen in Great Yarmouth’s Market Place yesterday evening (March 3) at about 7.30pm.

The volunteers were serving food at their weekly soup kitchen when there was an altercation when one of their cars was kicked and punched by a youth.

Diane Haworth, 43, from Tribal Trust said they asked them what they were doing and then the group of about 20 young people started shouting at them and the homeless people, before more turned up on bikes.

The Hopton mum said she was punched in the face and received bruises to her face and her glasses were broken in the attack. A homeless man who intervened was then attacked by three young people.




She said she was still shaken by the incident, and they went straight to the police station to report the assaults.

One of the homeless ladies was shaking, it makes them very anxious.

We had some new faces there too which was nice before this happened.
She added it was not the first time they have been targeted, as a couple of weeks ago young people came with laser pointers which they deliberately shone in theirs and the homeless people’s eyes.

Norfolk Police have been contacted for a comment.

The Tribal Trust is a group of volunteers who are on hand to help rough sleepers in Great Yarmouth town centre.

The group operate out of a converted mini bus helping the homeless.

Their aim is to get out and about every two to three days once they have more volunteers who are qualified to help, but Diane said they may have to reconsider if the violence continues.

Diane a trained key worker and support worker knows better than most some the difficulties faced by those she helps, suffering from PTSD and anxiety and having been homeless herself. 


Speaking in January when the project launched in Great Yarmouth, the Hopton mum said: 
I have been there. I understand where they are coming from, I’m not just a worker,

This is part therapy for me, I’m still buzzing now after going out and helping them.
Now the Tribal Trust writes on their site "It's been a bit of a nightmare."

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Take extra care all the lovely volunteers feeding the Homeless of Norfolk, especially The People's Picnic and Norwich Soup Movement.

Donations:  
The People's Picnic and Norwich Soup Movement  

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Tribal Trust version of events:

Let's get one thing straight this was caught on cctv... Mob Culture at its worst...
Soup Kitchen pt2, approx 7.40pm. One lout kicks and punches our car, instead of apologising he wants to fight..He wants to ' smash our faces in ' , then he goes for Diane and punches her in the face and smashing her glasses.. then all hell breaks loose.. All the yobs want to ' have a go ' punching - kicking - slapping ' at all of us..Dave got repeatedly punched then attacked by a young girl, hitting Dave with a bottle.. Vicky grabbed one of the yobs off of Daves back. One of the homeless gentlemen ( Wesley ) came in to help, and ended up on the floor with 4/5 youths kicking and punching him. Gary also got hit while trying to rescue Wesley. Our 80 YEAR OLD volunteer also grabbed a yob who was attacking Dave. Our friend Tom also helped to keep us from being seriously injured.
We managed to escape just as even more youths from McDonald's direction joined forces, the group of yobs all turned in pursuit of us just as the Police arrived.. If the Police did not arrive just at that moment then we would have had 30- 40 youths bored and full of hate attacking us..
This incident has left us all very shaken and emotional after enduring this unprovoked attack on 6 members and 5 of our regular visitors. This attack has left scars, and opened old mental scars resulting in prolonged anxiety and stress related problems .
We are so disgusted that we are arranging a peacefull protest in Yarmouth from 6- 7 pm on this Friday the 10th March . Please see our ' protest event ' and come along to show your support so this kind of thing doesn't happen again, and people can walk around the town area without being intimidated in there own town



UPDATES:


We are shocked and saddened...and very disappointed
We have just heard that a youth has been attacked....
What the hell is people thinking?.. we suffered an attack, we certainly don't want anyone else being attacked in anyway what so ever... So shocking...
we are disgusted buy some of the violent threats, both at us and the youths.. This is NOT the way to help bring change.. And we do not and will never Condone or support violence or bullying of any kind. We are sorry and saddened by what has been going on?.. STOP NOW....PLEASE...
So enough now... we are a peaceful trust of non paid people who just trying to help the homeless ...

Tribal Trust

HEY FRIENDS .. Protest Cancelled..... SAFETY ISSUES... :(

OK, we have thought about this all day. As you all know we are all about safety, helping others and bringing people together. We have a potential 700/1000 supportive people coming to our Protest on Friday... After many hours of planning we have decided to cancel this Fridays Protest.
It's just to big for us to organise and control safely. We are concerned about the safety of so many people. Sadly we must be sensible about this. We are still holding our soup kitchen and you are welcome to come down, have a chat, meet the team, try and raise some funds and plan for the future. So please come along for a cuppa.
Much love the TT Team... x





2 comments:

  1. what is happening? Our societies are becoming brutalised? Where were the ppolice? Where ARE the police?

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  2. https://www.change.org/p/gybc-et-al-avoid-any-further-community-distress-youth-violence-public-outrage-or-impediment-of-the-tourist-and-business-trades-by-swiftly-and-competently-providing-for-disenfranchised-youth?recruiter=37564440&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_facebook_responsive&utm_term=des-lg-no_src-custom_msg

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