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| Footballers make knife-crime plea | |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| David Beckham has joined other England football stars to call for an end to knife crime. | David Beckham has joined other England football stars to call for an end to knife crime. |
| Beckham, Rio Ferdinand and David James launched the new anti-knife campaign called It Doesn't Have to Happen. | |
| The players met Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and senior police officers ahead of their match with the Czech Republic. | |
| The government says more than 2,500 arrests have been made and 1,600 knives have been seized since June under its action plan to tackle knife crime. | |
| Over 55,000 people have been stopped and searched under the measures. | |
| "Tragic consequences" | |
| David Beckham told the news conference at the team hotel in Watford he strongly supported the campaign: | |
| "We can help people, we can help youngsters because, we've got a voice and we've got a voice that kids listen to. | |
| "And it's so important that we get involved in this, it's so important that we believe that things can change, because no-one wants to pack their children off to school in the morning and then never see them again." | |
| Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the "tragic consequences" of knives had been shown with two more deaths this weekend. | |
| She said: "Some young people may think that carrying a knife makes them safer. In fact the opposite is true, if you carry a knife you risk it being used, and possibly against you. | |
| "It doesn't have to happen, families' grief doesn't have to happen, and communities shouldn't have to live in fear." |