‘Large group’ of youngsters sent home by police following gathering at beach
A “LARGE group” of young people were sent home by police after gathering at a beach in Carmarthenshire.
Dyfed-powys Police confirmed that high visibility patrols will continue to be carried out in the Burry Port area after the youths were found congregating at the beach on Saturday, April 3.
While the “stay local” restrictions were lifted on March 27, current restrictions state that only six people from two households are permitted to meet outdoors.
A tweet from the force’s Burry Port and Kidwelly account posted on Easter Sunday read: “A large group of youths were dispersed from Burry Port beach yesterday evening, along with various amounts of alcohol confiscated.
“Section 34 dispersal powers will remain in place again this evening (Sunday). High visibility patrols will be continued to be conducted.”
This comes just days after police broke up groups of up to 100 teenagers who had been gathering near the town’s coastal path to drink alcohol in woodland and sand dunes. Large amounts of alcohol were seized by officers who stated that a large number of the teenagers had travelled to the area to meet up.
Dyfed-powys Police explained that plans had been put in place ahead of the Easter holidays as part of a joint operation with Carmarthenshire Council to deal with the anticipated gatherings, particularly those involving groups of young people meeting in Burry Port.
A Section 34 order was put in place covering Burry Port and the coastal path from Pembrey Harbour to Pwll, which allowed officers to move people out of the area and prevent them from returning for up to 48 hours.
The force has confirmed that officers are still using powers under the Antisocial Behaviour Act to disperse groups of youngsters, with the Section 34 order currently remaining in place in Burry Port and the coastal path from the harbour in Pembrey to
Pwll.
During the previous weekend, on Saturday, March 27, around 50 teenagers, aged between 13 and 16, who were spotted heading towards woodland were advised to go home by officers as around 100 bottles of alcohol were seized.
In recent weeks there have been reports of antisocial behaviour in Swansea Marina which left local residents feeling “frightened” and “threatened”, as one claimed that there were “over 100 youths” gathering near the seafront on one occasion.
A shocking video emerged online showing a mass brawl involving teenagers kicking and hitting each other and rolling on the ground on the promenade near Swansea beach. One of the onlookers could be heard saying “she’s out cold” as one person was shown lying on the ground.
While in Aberavon, a group of 30 young people ran away from police after being found gathering around a fire in sand dunes at the beach.