A GANG of bottle throwing thugs “armed with knives” sparked chaos as a huge brawl broke out on a high street, leaving residents frightened and shocked.

Roughly “50 teenagers” were throwing bottles and fighting outside Laila Turkish restaurant and Aspera in Benfleet at 11pm on Saturday.

A witness, who asked not to be named, said she had “never seen anything like it before” and ran into her home in fear.

She said: “We were walking to our car when we left and we saw a gang of teenagers crossing the road throwing bottles. We got scared because we didn’t know if they were going to hit us.

“They were punching each other and fighting in the street.

“There’s a building on the corner near the car park, I’m not sure what it’s called but they have electric sliding doors. They somehow managed to get in there and take the fire extinguisher and hid it.

“I don’t know what they wanted to do with it. Maybe they wanted to use them as a weapon. I left the car and ran to my house. It was really terrifying.”

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No arrests have been made as the police probe continues. Another witness added: “I was driving and saw a massive fight.

“Bottles were thrown, chairs were flying about and I’m pretty sure I saw some knives. I didn’t feel safe.”

Police have confirmed they were called and dispersed a large group in High Road, Benfleet.

St Mary’s ward councillor, Russell Savage, has branded the behaviour “disgraceful”.

He said: “There’s no excuse for this behaviour. There needs to be some kind of real action taken against these groups.

“The police do a remarkable job but they are underfunded. We’re feeling vulnerable in Benfleet with our policing.”