Witness says ‘machete-wielding youths’ fought after groups descended on Southend

Videos shared on social media appeared to show hooded young people brandishing large knives in broad daylight near the Adventure Island theme park and in the high street on Tuesday evening.

Nicola Tiney, who runs the Borough Hotel on the seafront, told the PA news agency that she believed around a thousand young people descended on the resort town, many from London, in an organised meet-up during the hot and sunny weather.

Ms Tiney said groups began arriving in the afternoon, before pockets of violence and disorder started at around 7pm.

She went on: “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.”

Ms Tiney also described seeing large groups running in the area “like a herd of bulls”, stopping traffic as they went.

Two of the people detained were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening or life-changing injuries, Essex Police said.

An East of England Ambulance Service spokesman said at around 7pm it received reports that a man had been stabbed.

One patient was transported by air to Royal London Hospital, while another patient was taken by police to Southend University Hospital.

Another person was discharged at the scene.

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, the police force said.

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.

Section 60 powers allow a constable in uniform to stop and search any pedestrian or anything carried by them, any vehicle, its driver and passengers, for offensive weapons or dangerous instruments.

Essex Police said the order covered 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.

Police had multiple lines of inquiry to identify more suspects and bring them to justice and early  indications were that trouble broke out among  groups of young men and women have travelled into Southend, according to Chief Superintendent Leighton Hammett.

He had described it 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.

Mr 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.

Daniel Cowan, leader of Southend City Council, said there had been a “large influx of young people”.

He went on: “Last night we saw some hugely upsetting incidents in our city, the likes of which I never want to see again.

“The actions of those involved were deplorable, disgusting and people intent on acting like this are not welcome in Southend-on-Sea.”

David Burton-Sampson, MP for Southend West and Leigh, wrote on Facebook: “The scenes we witnessed last night on Southend seafront and the city centre were deeply disturbing and I know have caused concern for many residents.”

Bayo Alaba, MP for Southend East and Rochford, posted on social media: “Some distressing scenes in my city of Southend last night. I drove around in the evening to see the issues.

“There are some active crime scenes but the disorder had ceased.”