Police are on the scene after reports of a large brawl breaking out on Margate seafront.
Witnesses report dozens of people involved in a disturbance which appears to have started at the Kings Steps but has now broken out along the seafront close to the Nayland shelter.
Two police cars and a police van are currently in attendance.
UPDATE: Four cars and two vans now at the scene with a second fight reported to have broken out by the railway.
A large fight is also reported to have taken place in Viking Bay at around 6.15pm. Police attended the incident.
The incident comes at the end of a hugely busy day on Thanet’s beaches with one resident saying you couldn’t “even see the sand” at Margate. Similar crowds descended on Botany Bay.
Huge queues were still forming at the Arlington car park by mid-afternoon and large numbers of visitors have arrived by train today.
Residents have been astonished at the sheer number of people crowding onto with many saying the isle has been busier than most Summer holiday weekends.
In Botany Bay an emergency services crew called out to deal with a fire caused by a beach barbecue took 15 minutes to crawl along part of botany Road due to inconsiderate parking.
A resident in Botany Bay said cars were still arriving at gone 8pm tonight and police had closed access in the afternoon because of the growing danger of emergency vehicles unable to get through.
Thanet council, via its twitter account, said “thousands of people” had visited the isle today and urged them to make sure they took their rubbish home.
There have been calls for an alcohol ban on the beaches but it is questionable whether Thanet has the resources to enforce such a ban.
Concerns have again been raised about a lack of social distancing and the potential for transmission of the coronavirus.
Currently the R rate – the number of people a carrier would infect – stands at 0.7-0.9, below one but only by a small margin.
According to government data 43,230 people who tested positive for covid have now died. This number is likely to be greater with some experts saying it is nearer to 65,000.
There have been 684 covid-positive cases in Thanet.
