Footage of a machete brawl in a family park has revealed the brutal reality of life in one of south London's gang hotspots.

The violence unfolded around midday on Sunday at Burgess Park in Camberwell, with four thugs trying to stab and slash each other in broad daylight. 

In the video snapped by a local, bystanders can be seen trying to break up the fight.

The shocking scene once again calls into question Sir Sadiq Khan's repeated insistence that London is a 'safe city'.

It also sheds light on the gang wars blighting the local area, with disputes over drug markets or petty personal slights frequently erupting into violence.

Several street-level gangs are known to operate around Burgess Park - the most significant being the Peckham Boys to the south and Moscow17 to the west.

In recent years, Moscow17 has been embroiled in a bitter feud with Zone 2, a Peckham-based gang - leading to a string of stabbings and murders.

Police arrested four teenagers, aged 16 and 17, over the machete fight in Burgess Park, which ended when a brave passer-by rushed forward to break it up.

Officers have not confirmed whether any of the attackers are linked to specific local gangs, although this is likely to be a line of inquiry.

One of the most active local gangs are the Peckham Boys, a loose, multi-generational affiliation of street thugs operating in Peckham, Walworth and Camberwell.

Founded in the 1990s, the group is heavily involved in drug dealing and gun crime.

Like other urban gangs, they regularly groom schoolchildren to join their life of crime, with promises of fast cars, fashionable clothes and 'respect'.

The Peckham Boys are linked to one of the most notorious killings in London's history - the 2000 stabbing of ten-year-old Damilola Taylor.

Two members, Danny and Ricky Preddie, used a broken beer bottle to stab the Nigerian schoolboy in the leg before leaving him to bleed to death in a stairwell.

Danny and Ricky Preddie were just 12 and 13 at the time and had initially tried to rob Damilola before subjecting him to a prolonged assault.

They were convicted of manslaughter and jailed for eight years, with Ricky subsequently sentenced to several more prison terms for various offences.

Local gang wars claimed another innocent life in 2007 when fifteen-year-old Michael Dosunmu was murdered while asleep in his bed.

Mohammed Sannoh, 19, and Abdi Noor, 22, fired four bullets from a submachine gun at the child after mistaking him for his brother.

They were handed minimum jail terms of 30 years by a judge at the Old Bailey in 2008.

The killing was linked to a spate of infighting within the Peckham Boys as its members squabbled over the proceeds of a series of armed robberies targeting vans collecting cash from shops and banks.

Another notorious local gang is Moscow17, which operates between Burgess Park and Kennington Park to the west.

The group is based on the Brandon and Crawford Estates in Walworth and is best known for producing drill rap videos, which have gained millions of views on YouTube.

Drill rap is a sub-genre of hip hop that emerged on the south side of Chicago and videos regularly feature masked gang members displaying weapons, rapping about recent stabbings, taking drugs and making threats to their rivals.

In August 2018, drill rapper Siddique Kamara - a member of Moscow17 known by his stage name Incognito - was stabbed to death on Warham Street in Camberwell.

Eight months earlier, a jury had cleared the 23-year-old of murdering 17-year-old Abdirahman Mohamed, the brother of a member of Zone 2, a rival gang from Peckham.

Another Moscow17 member, Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton, was shot dead on Warham Street in May 2018.

Both Kamara and Barton featured in a Tim Westwood special with the gang on his controversial YouTube channel.

After Barton's death, the former public schoolboy claimed not to know that Moscow17 was involved in violence.

The Peckham Boys, Moscow17 and Zone 2 are far from the only gangs operating in the vicinity of Burgess Park. 

An online 'gang map' published in 2018 identified eleven other groups operating in the Camberwell area, although experts questioned whether the information was fully up to date.

During his tenure as Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan has repeatedly insisted crime is under control and accused critics - including Donald Trump - of spreading 'misinformation' about his record.

Earlier this year, he leapt on new statistics showing homicides at the lowest level on record to boast about his record on policing.

However, a closer look at the data reveals a range of other crimes, including violent assaults, have dramatically increased since he came to power in 2016.

Reports of violence against the person have soared by nearly a third between 2016/17 and 2025/26 to hit 242,777 in total.

Theft from the person has increased by 140 per cent over the same period while sexual and drug offences are up by 55 per cent and 34 per cent respectively.

Critics also point to a rise in offences on London's public transport network.

Some 12,951 offences were recorded on the Tube between July and December 2025 – an increase of 2.7 per cent from 12,606 in the same period in 2024.

A Met spokesman said of the incident in Camberwell: 'Police were called at around 12.30pm on Sunday, May 17 to reports of an altercation in Burgess Park, Camberwell.

'Officers attended and searched the area with the assistance of the police helicopter. Four boys, aged 16 and 17, were arrested on suspicion of offences including affray, causing grievous bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon.

'Three boys were arrested near the scene, while a fourth was arrested later on Sunday evening. All four boys remain in police custody.

'Two of the boys who were arrested were reported to have suffered injuries in the incident, which were not life-threatening or life-changing.

'One, a 17-year-old boy, self-presented at hospital for treatment to wounds and was discharged later that afternoon, following which he was arrested at a property in Southwark.

'The second boy, a 16-year-old, was taken to hospital by police and was later discharged.

'The investigation continues. Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101, quoting CAD 3298/17MAY or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.'