Three knives seized at unofficial beach party

Police seized three knives and made 13 arrests as they responded to an unofficial beach party in Southend-on-Sea.

Officers also turned away 250 people from the city's railway stations as visitors gathered by the seafront on Tuesday.

Flyers promoting the event online encouraged attendees to bring their own drinks and indicated drugs could be available.

A dispersal order has been imposed across the entire district until Thursday morning and Essex Police has been given extra stop-and-search powers.

"We will continue to proactively monitor and disperse groups to prevent or reduce the likelihood of disorder or violent behaviour across the city," the force said.

The party was advertised on social media as both the "Southend Takedown" and the "32C Southend Beach Step".

A significant policing operation was put in place as the force hoped to avoid a repeat of disorder seen in 2024, when "rival gangs" clashed at a beach rave.

Officers stopped and searched 29 people on Tuesday and deployed live facial recognition technology, which led to eight of the 13 total arrests.

Essex Police said all eight of those individuals had been wanted by officers.

It said "significant numbers of young people" travelled to the seaside city.

The force added it would continue to work with the British Transport Police and the city council's CCTV operators on Wednesday.

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