London<\/a>, are understood to have written to parents asking them to remain vigilant regarding the trend. In a letter seen by The Independent, one west London school warned the craze is causing \u201cserious concern\u201d and urged parents to check their children\u2019s smartphones \u201cin order to keep our school safe\u201d. <\/p>\n![\"Graphics](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-26-at-14-56-copy.jpeg\")
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open image in gallery<\/p>\n
Graphics listing schools as \u2018red\u2019 or \u2018blue\u2019 are circulated on social media (TikTok)<\/p>\n
The posts divide schools into \u201cred\u201d and \u201cblue\u201d teams and urge children to \u201cjump\u201d anyone they see from an opposing team. In one, seen by The Independent, children are urged to \u201cbe violent\u201d and use compass points to attack each other.<\/p>\n
Others suggest they will get video game-style \u201cpoints\u201d if they \u201cpunch an opp\u201d (opponent) or \u201cstain an opp\u201d.<\/p>\n
A TikTok spokesperson said it had restricted searches relating to \u201cred vs blue\u201d and told The Independent the trend is found across many social media platforms. They added that the platform\u2019s community guidelines do not allow threats, glorifying violence or promoting crimes that could harm people or property.<\/p>\n
The trend, which appears to have started in London, now appears to have spread to other parts of the UK, including Bristol.<\/p>\n
Charities dedicated to stamping out knife crime have also issued statements about the trend. Charlie\u2019s Promise, a charity founded in memory of 17-year-old Charlie Cosser, who died after he was stabbed in the chest three times at a party, warned: \u201cWhile some young people may view this as a game or online challenge, the risks are very real.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Metropolitan Police said they are aware of the posts and are in \u201cclose contact\u201d with schools across the city to \u201crespond firmly\u201d to any reports of disorder. In a statement, Commander Neerav Patel said he wanted to remind young people of the \u201cserious consequences\u201d of carrying weapons and getting involved in violence.<\/p>\n
![\"Schools](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-26-at-14-56-53.png\")
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open image in gallery<\/p>\n
Schools are pitted against each other in the \u2018London wars\u2019 on social media accounts (TikTok)<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cWe\u2019re aware of social media posts circulating and are in close contact with schools across several London boroughs to offer reassurance.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficers will maintain a strong, visible presence around schools, and will respond firmly to any reports of violence or disorder.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to closely monitor online spaces and have worked with platforms to request a dozen social media accounts to be disabled where threats or violence were planned or encouraged.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to remind young people of the serious consequences of getting involved in matters like this. An arrest, charge and conviction for violence and carrying weapons could mean imprisonment with a significant long-term impact on future opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neighbourhood chief inspector Keith Smith from Avon and Somerset Police said they are \u201cmonitoring the situation extremely closely\u201d and that there has been no evidence of incidents linked to the trend in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen several posts linking this national trend to schools in Bristol and South Gloucestershire. While this will cause concern to our communities, we are monitoring the situation extremely closely. At this stage, there is no evidence to suggest any incidents have occurred in the Avon and Somerset area which can be linked to this trend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will have a heightened presence in several areas over the next few days, which will include reassurance patrols at schools listed on the social media posts, and contingency plans will also be in place should we need them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are taking this matter incredibly seriously, are working with partners and other interested parties, while carrying out intelligence checks, and any incidents reported to us will be investigated accordingly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis trend is not linked to any ongoing investigations, but we would urge people with concerns to contact us promptly or call 999 if a crime is in progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snapchat has been contacted for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-447439","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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