Police have arrested eight people and seized seven weapons after a night of violence and disorder in Southend. 

Powers allowing officers to stop and search members of the public, their possessions and their vehicles for weapons remain in place until 8pm today, Wednesday July 31.

Chief Superintendent Morgan Cronin said: “We will not excuse this dangerous behaviour on our streets, at the expense of the public and our officers.

“These arrests were made quickly to keep the public safe, and we have multiple lines of enquiry to identify more suspects and bring them to justice.

“I’d like to reassure the wider public that these were targeted attacks involving just a small fraction of the visitors to Southend yesterday.

“I’d also like to thank our partners in the British Transport Police and the security teams working in Southend for their support in dispersion the crowds and ensuring the public left the area covered by our dispersal order.

“The stop and search powers in place have already taken weapons off the streets of Southend and we will not hesitate to stop anyone we believe is carrying a weapon. If you carry a knife in Essex you will not get away with it.

“Our officers will be in the city and on the seafront again today, so please speak to one of our officers if you have any information about last night’s disorder.”

If you have any information or dashcam footage of disorder in the city centre at about 7pm, please contact police quoting incident number 1094 of Tuesday July 30.