Broadstairs has been plagued with another day of trouble with reports of stores in the High Street closing early due to the disturbances, including Tesco and Iceland.
Hundreds of teenagers have flocked to the town with frustrated residents reporting fights, underage drinking and theft, including from Lawns premier shop.
One resident said: “At the bottom of the steps on Broadstairs beach about 3 pm there were hundreds of teenagers and four outnumbered police officers. The police have closed Tesco , the post office opposite and Iceland to stop booze sales.
“We watched it unfold from the clocktower/ shelter above.”
Another branded the town as ‘lawless.’
Viking Bay has also been left strewn with rubbish this evening.
A dispersal order had been put in place across the town at 10pm on Thursday (June 19) and was due to expire at 4.30pm today (June 21). However, that has now been extended until tomorrow.
The order followed disruption in the town and at Viking Bay with yobs smashing business windows, fighting, stealing and hurling bottles at beach huts and people walking along the seafront.
Three arrests were made on suspicion of offences relating to public order, assault and criminal damage.
Two boys aged 16 and 17, and a 15-year old girl, all from Thanet, have since been released on bail pending further enquiries.
The dispersal order covered The Broadway, along Albion Road, Baird’s Hill, Lindenthorpe Road, Crow Hill and the Vale, Viking Bay and Louisa Bay beaches as well as the High Street, Piermont Park and Broadstairs Railway Station.
The order grants officers additional powers to instruct people to leave specific areas and anyone who returns after being dispersed risks being arrested.
Section 34 dispersal orders have now been put in place for 48 hours as part of ongoing work by Kent Police to disrupt antisocial behaviour in both Margate and Broadstairs.
It follows the use of the powers already in place in Broadstairs which remain in force until Sunday afternoon.
Kent Police say: “The orders have been implemented due to ongoing concerns relating to issues caused by a small minority of young people in some public areas including the town and beach areas. These have included under-age street drinking, fighting and reports of aggressive behaviour towards staff at shops.
“Under Section 34 of the Antisocial Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, officers can use the additional powers to instruct people to leave the area and anyone who returns after being dispersed risks being arrested.
“Our officers have also been granted additional authority to stop and search individuals in Margate under Section 60 of the Public Order Act.
“The dispersal orders cover the two town centres as well as the seafronts and surrounding streets and the public can expect to see additional patrols working together to reduce the risk of further offending and target those causing nuisance behaviour.”
Sun comes out and here we go again. Gangs of kids / youths organise it online so job done. When I was a kid it was all organised at school. Now its all organised on social media so its bigger and more hyped. When I was at school we were terrified of authority……our teachers (some of them), the police and often our parents. It used to be called respect. The biggest problem now is that there is no fear and certainly no respect. Most kids are good but a few (and I include many parents in this) do not give a xxxx and do as they please with no fear or favour. Believe me it starts with the small things (litter, graffiti, riding on the pavement etc etc). The small things when I was a kid got punished. Now…..nothing. Society has gone wrong somewhere 😥
Welcome to lawless England,where these criminal cockroaches are allowed to get away with their crimes, because they know they can.
Doris is exaggerating again. As “JJ” says, “most kids are good”.
It is people like you who are constantly defending them that are the root cause of the problem. Grow a spine, dear!
MMRees,when you,your family or friends are beaten up by yobs,such as these,then you might take off those rose tinted glasses.Families,with children, cannot go to the beach for a day,for fear of these lawless maggots infesting the streets
We are a lawless society and the criminals are having an easy time,at the expense of the majority..Do gooders like you,do nothing but criticise those people wanting harsher punishment for these vermin.
This c#×p has to stop.
To many kids, un-locals coming to Broadstairs, to cause trouble.
It’s widely shared on social media about ‘ London Boys’, Medway Boys’, Broadstairs Boys, challenging each other, to meet and fight in Broadstairs.
It’s a disgrace.
The scenes at Sardinia, in Broadstairs, were caused by a 12yr old boy, being bullied by teenagers, he ran into the restaurant, begging for help.
They then got attacked by the yobs, for shielding him.
More Policing is needed, or the locals will form an allegiance, then it will kick off.
Arrest them and keep them locked up all weekend.Fifteen years old or not.This country’s softly softly approach is not working.In a town where we get so many foreign students at the Kent School of English its embarrassing. The Spanish and French 15 year old are impeccably behaved and innocent.Not like the hooligans we are producing.
I will vote for any political party that brings in laws similar to Singapore, I lived there for 12 years with my job, the authorities do not mess around there. Hence it’s a wonderful safe place to live. Not like the useless police and authorities here. It was a shock when I got transferred back to the UK I couldn’t believe how a government that was in power for 14 years could have allowed such decline in a nation. The voters who kept the conservatives in power feel so ashamed of themselves so they blame the new government.
So true. The Tories were in power but somehow this is all down to their opponents. Not difficult to see why we’re failing to imbue a sense of responsibility in our kids.
The government are not THAT new, it’s been nearly a year!
And they do deserve some of the blame
Organised on line , these yobs don’t even live in Broadstairs, the police now should concentrate who is the leader and scrutinise CCTV footage, which I believe they’re doing!
This behaviour is not tolerated.
We need more mambas in this world
Little boys being egged on by little girls, fuelled up by drink. A bad combination. They think that they are grown up, but with child mentality.
I’ve come to Broadstairs for the weekend with my family and I couldn’t believe what i saw yesterday. It was the most unsettling feeling I’ve experienced.
They were not only drinking alcohol openly but also doing balloons . I’m talking bottles of vodka and wine!
There was approx a thousand young people on that beach and from 3pm it kicked off and did not stop.
The police were out numbered and could they not possibly have been able to control with the amount of young people. As a family it was frightening and scary and I feel so sad for the locals.
Also the rubbish left is just awful.
Balloons? Thought it would be easier drinking from glasses & cans.
What can the police do ? Risk their jobs trying to stop these thugs ?
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxl9gllzn7o
The parents are to blame. If the feral youths were at home reading and educating themselves there wouldn’t be this problem. Read my book it’s very interesting
Not my comment. Please remove, Kathy.
We need to be able to a name and shame these yobs. Then the “parents” might have to do something to control their children. Parents/Guardians should be held responsible for their children’s actions. They should also pay compensation to the businesses affected.
I can remember a few years back where some youths attacked a church, I think in Medway, and one of the boys fathers took him to the crime scene and made him apologise. This farther should be an example to all these parents who must be aware of their own children’s actions and be bold enough to call them out! I’m sure so many people would respect them for doing so.
There is an ever increasing number of people who just don’t care about the rules or how to behave in public.
Ramsgate beach today. People just blatantly walking their dogs on the sand in the middle of all the sunbathers. Groups of lads turning up with blaring music. Parking a complete free for all.
The Council and Police have simply lost control.
Do our Councillors not actually see this going on ? I ask any of them to take a walk along the seafront of any of our towns during a heatwave and see what they need to do.
Botany Bay was the same. Cars parked on all the double yellow lines, complete carnage around the Botany Bay hotel with people blatantly disregarding the “Private Land” signs in the car park. People loaded to the gunnels with food/drink etc, so don’t think much money would have been received by any local traders. The poor people living in Botany Road and surrounds must be heartily sick of it. Get some control up there for goodness sake, at least someone to issue fines for traffic offences!
Sadly another example of lawless Britain. It’s not just coastal communities, it’s right across this country. Until we have some respect back for the law and the parents of young people actually take responsibility for their behaviour it will never change. As a young man I was no Angel growing up in London but my parents would not tolerate me bringing this bother to their doorstep and I certainly had more fear and respect for police. Severe punishment however unpalatable some lefties find it is the only way to deal with the mindless youths who perpetrate this sort of criminality. We have become weak as a nation, soft on criminals with the police in the county chasing the wrong people. values seem to be a dirty word
There are many ways other than “severe punishment” – I assume that by this you mean physical punishment- in which people’s behaviour can be changed for the better. Unfortunately, Britain is not so advanced in it as some other European countries.