UK Edition
Riot police were called to south-east London after around 100 schoolchildren believed to have been armed with bats and knives were involved in a mass brawl.
Two teenagers were taken to hospital and seven were arrested after every available police officer within the area was sent to combat the violence on Monday evening.
Panicked residents locked themselves into their homes and shops as the youths, many of whom were wearing school uniforms, caused chaos on the streets of Bexley.
Witnesses described “absolute pandemonium” as the fights spilled onto the roads of Northumberland Heath, near Erith.
And a local landlady yesterday said it was a “miracle” that no one had been killed in the fight, which prompted police to deploy a helicopter and dogs.
Footage understood to have been filmed during the brawl showed dozens of young people punching and kicking a young person who had been beaten to the floor. Some of his attackers appeared to have been armed with sticks as they launched kicks to his body and head.
It is believed the fight began at the local recreation ground, but soon expanded onto the streets of Northumberland Heath.
Sharon McHattie, a landlady at the Duchess of Kent pub, said many of the children - some of whom were reportedly as young as seven - were armed with knives and bats, while there were also reports that some were brandishing concrete slabs as weapons.
“It’s a miracle no one was killed,” she said. “They all had their hoods up and balaclavas on. How they never got killed I don’t know. They were all standing in the middle of the street.”
She said she believed gangs in the area clash over racial divides, and added that a boy of 12 took refuge in the pub after he made a racist taunt towards teenagers outside.
Barmaid Bonnie Lampard, who locked and bolted all of the pub’s doors, said she saw a group of white boys wearing balaclavas and Halloween masks running out of the park before “around 50 young black boys in school uniform came down the road.”
She added: “One of them had a knife and was waving it around. They had metal bars, knuckle dusters and knives.
“The police were completely outnumbered. If it had all kicked off then the police would not have been able to contain it.”
A resident said she was afraid to leave her house as the stand-off with police lasted for more than two hours.
“There were a lot of kids outside, both black and white in uniform,” said 39-year-old Kerry Duggan. “They were pushing the police and there was a lot of shouting. There were more than 100 kids just outside and the white kids were fighting with police.”
Another eyewitness added: “In 30 years I have never seen anything like it.”
Police yesterday began an investigation into the brawl, which prompted more than 40 calls to the emergency services.
They had been able to disperse an earlier disturbance nearby, a spokesman said, but the same group of people were believed to have been involved in the larger fight that took place shortly after.
Seven males, aged between 15 and 21, were arrested and taken to police stations in south London. The two teenagers taken to hospital were 15 and 19, and suffered “non-life threatening injuries,” a police spokesman confirmed.
A spokesman for the borough of Bexley said they were still trying to “establish the facts” of the fight, adding: “We are obviously dismayed by the incident.”
Police were still at the scene of the fight nearly 24 hours after the brawl took place. Police vans were seen parked up at various points around the community, while uniformed officers lined the streets as students left school on Tuesday afternoon.