MP Jeremy Corbyn said he was “shocked” after a fatal stabbing in Finsbury Park and called for better treatment of delivery drivers.
The MP visited the scene of a knife attack in which a 30-year-old man was killed on Friday night (January 3), sparking the Metropolitan Police's first murder investigation of 2020.
The victim, named locally as Taqi, was found on Charteris Road close to the junction with Lennox Road at around 6.50pm.
Friends at the scene on Friday said he was Algerian and worked for Deliveroo and UberEats as a delivery driver.
Detective Chief Inspector Neil John confirmed his next of kin have been informed but that a post-mortem and formal identification have yet to take place.
Speaking at the scene on Saturday, Mr Corbyn said: "I am totally shocked. This is a very close-knit community, and this is yet another stabbing on the streets of London.
"People should not be carrying knives. A human life has been taken.
"There are a lot of people working as delivery drivers, they must have better conditions of employment and employers must take more responsibility for their safety too.
"Police cuts have meant fewer officers on the streets, and this raises issues of safety in the community in general."
He added: "Delivery drivers do a great job in London all of the time. Yet they are vulnerable. They're often on zero hours contracts, yet the food they are carrying is insured. So the delivery driver is less valuable than the food they are carrying.
"We need to end the whole culture of gig employment."
Deliveroo and Uber driver Zakaria Gherabi, 37, who knew the victim, attended the scene on Saturday.
He said he has been the victim of attacks while working as a delivery driver, including in October last year when his attacker punched him in the eye and dislocated his socket.
Mr Gherabi told the PA news agency: "My attackers are still on the streets. The police do nothing.
"It happens. Nobody is going to save you. The company does not care, we are self-employed, but the food we are carrying is insured.
"I knew the victim. He did not do anything, he was a good guy. He was stabbed to death on these busy streets.
"The job is not safe. I don't feel safe doing it."
On Friday, fellow delivery riders gathered in Stroud Green Road said he had been the victim of a road rage attack following an altercation with a car driver.
A witness said the driver who attacked the victim was driving a Volkswagen Caddy and did not try to steal his moped from him.
DCI John said: "The investigation is at a very early stage. It would appear at this time that an altercation has taken place between the victim, who was riding a motorcycle, and the driver of another vehicle in the vicinity of Lennox Road and Charteris Road, Finsbury Park."
He added: "The incident itself appears at this early stage to have been spontaneous and not connected to, or as a result of, anything other than a traffic altercation.
"Specialist officers are working extremely hard to build a clear picture of what happened and I would encourage anyone who may have seen the incident or has information to come forward.
"A forensic examination of the scene has been undertaken and I expect the road to reopen very soon."
No arrests have been made and inquiries continue, the Met said.
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