One video showed a young girl being dragged by her coat and hit repeatedly.
The teenagers have been throwing rocks and bottles at passersby (Image: Helen Lawson)
A Greater Manchester town has been overrun with gangs of youths who are “running the streets”. Locals have reported huge gangs of teens throwing rocks at passersby, hurling verbal abuse at local business owners, and whizzing through the roads on electric bikes.
Groups of as many as 50 young people have reportedly been congregating in Ashton, leaving locals frightened and police having to issue dispersal orders. But last Sunday, February 8, the reports culminated in chaos as youths harassed local business owners. KFC closed early for protection for the second night in a row, while the owner of Hel’s Kitchen café was pleading with the gang to leave.
A local bus stop was smashed during a chaotic incident (Image: -)
Livestreaming to Facebook, Helen asked: “Will you leave me alone? Get out of my face.” In 13 minutes of chaos, she was followed, intimidated, had a drink hurled at her, and had her mobile phone snatched out of her hand and thrown to the floor as she was surrounded.
Another video posted online showed a young girl being attacked by a group outside a nearby B&M store. She was dragged by her coat and hit repeatedly. Local councillor Danny Fletcher said the footage made him feel “physically sick”.
Local schools are now involved, with a number of youths reportedly identified from the online footage. Children are thought to be arranging the large-scale meet-ups, travelling from Haydock in Merseyside and Golborne near Warrington.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Helen said it was the first time she had personally run into trouble with the group, but that after posting her video, which has so far received more than 200,000 views, she faced furious backlash online.
“I hadn’t had anything like that before,” she said. “All I wanted to do was to ask for them to move, but I was backed up into the middle of the road and followed,” she said.
“Nothing excuses this behaviour. What are the parents doing? These kids think they are untouchable and have no respect. The way they spoke to me and treated me was disgusting. I don’t know what the answer is, they clearly think they can get away with it.”
She added: “Parents are terrified of letting their kids out, I have two nieces and I know their parents are worried about growing up around all this.”
One of the worst incidents happened last year, according to Sian Jones, who runs the dance school Strawberry ARTS CIC. She said a group of teenagers set fire to cardboard outside her venue, which meant they had to evacuate due to smoke. She said the children then had glass bottles thrown at them.
“Unfortunately this isn’t a new issue,” she explained. “Me and a few other people have had car windows smashed. Eggs thrown at cars. The bins have been set on fire a few times. There’s loads of graffiti on all the surrounding walls of businesses. Bricks have been ripped out of walls, gutters and wires ripped off the walls.”
Helen’s video showed her being harassed by a group of teens (Image: Helen Lawson)
A manager at a local fast food restaurant said her 16-year-old members of staff were “frightened to come to work” and that she constantly had to remove up to 20 children at a time from smoking, stealing and vandalising the restaurant.
“I can assure you these kids are feral,” she added. “Customers won’t come into the store because they don’t want to deal with being terrorised by children. We’ve had the restaurant closed tonight and lost business due to this.”
KFC confirmed to MEN it is aware of the incident and ‘does not tolerate’ anti-social behaviour in its restaurants. The chain is working with police and local authorities to ensure the town centre “feels safe and welcoming for everyone”.
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: “We have been utilising multiple resources within the Ashton-in-Makerfield area to reduce anti-social behaviour and have been tackling reports of issues with groups of young people head-on.
“This has included the implementation of dispersal orders, which grants local officers the authority to remove people from areas and prevent issues before they can have a chance to begin.
“Since reports of issues with a large group of young people on Sunday, we have identified several people in connection with the investigation and work is ongoing to assess any and all crimes – ensuring that those responsible are dealt with appropriately.
“We have additionally been working closely with local schools, partners, and council youth teams to enhance patrolling in the area, engage with businesses, and look at ways to prevent further issues from affecting the community.”
