An anti-violence event for schoolchildren yesterday was a success, organisers said last night.

Desmond Crockwell said that the Bermuda Wears Red event would have been worthwhile “even if only one person responded to the call to support the initiative”.

Mr Crockwell, chief editor of anti-violence magazine Visionz, said that several island schools had taken part in the event as part of a bid to beat gang warfare.

He said that anti-violence assemblies had been held at Clearwater Middle School, East End Primary School and Whitney Institute.

Mr Crockwell said that Terri Crockwell, a staff member at Clearwater, gave an impromptu speech about the pain of losing her child. Her son, cricketer Fiqre Crockwell, was shot and killed in 2016.

Mr Crockwell said: “It was one of the more impactful speeches I have witnessed. “This speaks to the impact of those who supported the initiative.”

Mr Crockwell said that plans were in the works for a performance arts production and that the next issue of Visionz would feature Pastor Leroy Bean, Bermuda’s gang violence reduction co-ordinator.

He added: “We also hope to put together Bermuda’s first all-male mentoring programme.”

Yesterday’s event was timed to coincide with Martin Luther King Jr Day — named in honour of the US civil rights leader murdered in Memphis, Tennessee, in April 1968 by a white supremacist.