Police say they will step up patrols after antisocial behaviour from crowd of 600 young people at Crawfordsburn Country Park and on Bangor train

It comes as the Northern Ireland railways service from Bangor to Belfast was also the subject of antisocial behaviour.

The PSNI said that officers who attended Crawfordsburn Country Park last night came under attack from young people who had gathered there.

Chief Inspector Paul McGrattan said: “Our officers were in attendance at the Country Park following a report of antisocial behaviour at approximately 7.15pm, up to 600 young people had gathered.

“Unfortunately, when officers were carrying out their duties, items were thrown in their direction and missiles also thrown at police vehicles from the crowd.”

He said that a 17-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy were arrested on suspicion of disorderly behaviour, resisting arrest and assault on police.

While the girl has been released pending a report to the Public Prosecution Service, the boy remains in custody.

Chief Inspector McGrattan said: “Five officers sustained injuries as they tried to bring the crowd under control, with one requiring hospital treatment as she had received lacerations to her hand and a possible broken finger.”

He added: “With the hot weather set to continue over the coming days, we are asking all visitors to respect the local area and take personal responsibility for their behaviour. Our message extends to parents also, do you know where your young people are, who they are with and what they are doing?

“We want to reassure the community that local police will be proactively patrolling these areas, keeping a visible presence and anyone breaking the law will be identified and robustly dealt with accordingly.

“I would encourage anyone who witnesses any anti-social or criminal behaviour to report any such incidents to us on the non-emergency number 101.”

Later that same evening there were reports of disturbances on the 8.25pm service departing Bangor.

One passenger told of the “extremely frightening” ordeal as young people piled onto the train at stations around Bangor, and particularly the Helen’s Bay halt.

She said: “The train was mobbed by over a hundred teenagers, most drunk, some openly drinking, some vaping, all yelling at each other, intimidating other passengers.

“It was extremely frightening, there was one conductor on board who was obviously completely outnumbered, when he threw them off they just ran to another carriage and got back on. He could barely make it between carriages because of how packed it was. They were verbally abusing other groups of them, and it honestly felt like a powder keg.

“At one point a group of them very loudly started singing sectarian songs. There were some very small children in our carriage and they were visibly upset. The conductor was apologising when they left, but what could he do, it was a powder keg and he might have been hurt.

“It’s really apparent that they didn’t pay, they were openly drinking, they were being abusive and intimidating.”