'Lots of them had their hoods up and were wearing masks and hats, just coming to the seafront resort to cause trouble.'
Eight youths have been arrested after up to a thousand young people descended upon a seaside town and caused chaos.
One man has been stabbed, eight have been arrested and seven weapons have been seized by police after hooded and masked young people brandished large knives in the middle of the road in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.
Groups of young people started arriving in the town, mostly by train, in the early afternoon before pockets of violence and disorder kicked off from about 7pm on Tuesday evening.
At one point three people brandishing knives were filmed running in the road near the Adventure Island theme park as police officers watched the disorder.
Nicola Tiney, who runs the Borough Hotel on the seafront, said she believed around a thousand young people descended on the resort town, and described large groups running ‘like a herd of bulls’ and stopping traffic.
She added: ‘Lots of them had their hoods up and were wearing masks and hats, just coming to the seafront resort to cause trouble.
‘They congregated at the other end of the seafront and they started kicking off amongst themselves and running around…there were machetes out in the middle of the road.
‘I had to get all of my customers in from the front, it was just disgusting.
‘I didn’t see anyone get hurt but you could see the machetes flying about at each other and then lots of them ran off down the beach with families around, I think one of them threw their machete into the sea.
‘Towards the town centre they were fighting with knives and machetes as well, and it’s just them amongst themselves, it’s nothing to do with Southend.’
Two of the people detained were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening or life-changing injuries, Essex Police said.
One person was airlifted to Royal London Hospital, while another was taken by police to Southend University Hospital.
In one specific incident at about 7.40pm, an assault with an offensive weapon was seen by security staff and members of the public in Marine Parade.
One suspect at the scene was arrested on suspicion of possessing a bladed article and causing grievous bodily harm.
Essex Police said it believes the conflict occurred within groups of young men and women who had travelled to Southend.
The force has put a Section 60 dispersal order in place, which gives officers powers to exercise stop and searches if they suspect a person might have an offensive weapon or ‘dangerous instrument’.
The order covers Marine Parade, Pier Hill, High Street, Western Esplanade and both the railway stations in the city and will remain in place until 8pm on Wednesday.
Chief Superintendent Leighton Hammett described the disorder as ‘targeted attacks involving just a small fraction of the visitors to Southend’.
The public were told there would be a ‘greater visible presence’ of officers in Southend on Wednesday evening and on Thursday.
Chief Supt Hammett said: “I know people will be worried about what happened last night but Southend is a really safe place and disorder like that is not common here.
‘Violent crime has fallen here over the last year and there are 1,000 fewer incidents than the previous 12 months.
‘Knife crime are down 16% – that works out as more than 40 fewer incidents.’
Work is being done with the British Transport Police, who monitor activity along the train lines into the city, the council’s community safety officers and CCTV team, along with local private security teams employed by pubs and leisure attractions.
Train operator c2c said it is working with the police because a ‘large number of the individuals involved’ in the violence travelled to and from the town on its services.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
