5 ARRESTS AS POLICE CRACK DOWN ON YOB GANGS

Weekend-long dispersal order for groups of youths in town centre after antisocial incidents

POLICE made five arrests in a town centre in a weekend where they targeted badlybehaving youths.

North Wales Police confirmed that five people were arrested on suspicion of affray following an incident in Caernarfon town centre on Saturday.

It comes after police slapped a 48-hour dispersal order on the town centre on Friday night, in place until Sunday night, aimed at targeting disorder in the area.

It meant that gangs of youths were effectively banned from the heart of Caernarfon for the weekend.

Speaking on Sunday, Inspector Kev Bratherton, from North Wales Police, said: “Following the introduction of the dispersal orders, five arrests on suspicion of affray have been made and investigations are ongoing.”

Despite the arrests, Caernarfon town centre appeared quiet on Saturday evening.

As part of the dispersal order, officers are able to ask two or more young people to leave the “dispersal area” – in this case the town centre – if they are doing anything wrong, or if they believe that they may or are likely to cause a nuisance.

It follows several incidents in the town, including an incident at KFC last month, in which youths were said to be causing trouble, before trouble continued on the street outside.

After issuing the order, police said: “We are appealing to parents in Caernarfon to think very carefully about where your children are over the weekend.

“In a move to target groups of youths behaving in an unacceptable anti-social manner in the town we have issued a dispersal order which will remain in place throughout the weekend – running for 48 hours from Friday 3 January, until Sunday evening, 5 January.”