Police injured in Ballyclare mass brawl

A number of police officers sustained minor injuries after dealing with a fight that broke out in a crowd of about 50 people in Co Antrim.
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PSNI

Police attended a disturbance in Ballyclare just after 3am on Sunday morning.

Inspector Alison Ferguson said: “Officers attended and found that around 50 people had gathered on Main Street in the town and that fighting had broken out amongst them.

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“Following the arrest of a 23-year-old man on suspicion of a number of offences including being in charge of a vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs, assaulting police and criminal damage, the crowd became hostile towards police.”

CS spray was used to restrain a 36-year-old man who was then arrested on suspicion of disorderly behaviour. He was released, pending a report.

The 23-year-old remains in custody and is helping police with their enquiries.

Police have appealed for information.

Councillor Vera McWilliam said she was “absolutely disgusted” by the incident.

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She told the News Letter: “There is no need for this kind of behaviour, especially at 3am when they shouldn’t have even been there.

“It is disgraceful and gives Ballyclare a bad name. It was bad enough that these people were fighting amongst themselves but to turn on police is just despicable.”

Councillor David Arthurs added: “We don’t want to see disturbances like this in our town at any time, let alone 3am on a Sunday morning. This as it is taking police resources away from where they needed elsewhere.”

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