‘Unrest’ could hit Southend beaches again after violence and machete fights | UK | News

A massive beach party that got out of control in Southend could spark the start of more large gatherings, police have said. Essex Police have issued a warning about the risk of further unrest in the seaside town after a night of chaos.

Eight people were arrested and seven had their weapons confiscated after the huge party attracted people from London and other parts of Essex, some of whom were armed.

Despite the information the police had about the incident, they did not expect the crowd to split into small groups and fight. Two of those arrested had to be hospitalized for their injuries.

Chief Superintendent Leighton Hammett said: “We have information that similar gatherings will take place over the next five days and we are preparing for them.

“We will learn from Tuesday and ensure that everything is in place to keep people safe,” he said. Essex Live.

“The information we had initially was that this was a group of young people coming to Southend to have fun and party. We need to think about traffic management but there was no indication that the violence we saw was going to happen.

“My current working hypothesis is that we will unfortunately have other people with criminal intentions who will come forward and commit crimes and disturbances. This is something we did not expect, but it has since happened.

“We will think about how we respond depending on how these things might happen, which we did not anticipate on Tuesday.”

Nigel Farage, MP for Clacton, Essex, posted a message on social media following the incident: “Machete fighting is taking place in Southend tonight. Our country is being destroyed, our values ​​are being trampled and people are on the verge of revolt.”

Responding to the Clacton MP’s comments, Chief Superintendent Hammett said: “I am a father and I have young children. My children and many others still have good values, but there are a proportion of young people, whether through exploitation or other criminal means, who are happy to carry knives. They may not come with the intention of using them, but when situations become volatile they may.

“There is a societal issue. We are engaging with our partners and some of our figures show that we are doing things right. We need help from society. It is not just us who are concerned, it is also education, employers, businesses, parents.

“There is a broader issue: we need to make people understand that it is not a good thing to carry a knife and what the consequences are.”