Police were called to Brighton beach last night to break up fights as hundreds of teens gathered there on the hottest day of the year so far.
Groups of youths were reportedly scrapping on the Lower Promenade near the underpass between the beach and West Street at about 7.45pm.
When police arrived, they discovered 200 youths had congregated there.
One teenager was detained, but later released once the crowds had dispersed.
Neighbourhood Policing Chief Inspector Simon Marchant said: “While officers are always just a call away to respond to any incident, parents and carers are also encouraged to speak with their children about the risks of gathering in large groups, as violence and antisocial behaviour can quickly escalate, putting young people and the wider community at risk.
“No arrests were made on this occasion, but any youths found offending will be dealt with appropriately.
“Most would agree that warmer weather and time spent enjoying Brighton seafront is welcome, but it must not be accompanied by an increase in reports such as this.”
Where else are teenagers supposed to go on a sunny day? The beach is free, at least for now, and you need to sell a kidney to do anything else in Brighton,. Let them enjoy themselves and develop the social lives and skills they lost during covid
There’s a stark difference between enjoying themselves and an affray, fella.
“Groups of youths were reportedly scrapping on the Lower Promenade..”
Were they “scrapping”, or weren’t they?
No arrests.
“When police arrived, they discovered 200 youths had congregated there.”
Is that it?
Just a congregation of kids on the beach doing what kids do. I don’t see anything here, except that some might have felt intimidated by the numbers.
But why then is it acceptable every weekend to have a congregation of fat middle-aged, shaved-headed men in football shirts turning up at the Amex, three in a line on the seat of their white van with a copy of The Sun rolled up on the dashboard, beer in hand, and tribal confrontation with their identical counterparts on the opposing side? Is that not an issue? (it certainly makes pond life look evolved in comparison). If that’s OK, why does that require police vans across the whole of Falmer on match days?
At least the kids here are just acting their age.
No wonder that men not wanting to be associated with this Neanderthal football tribal behaviour decide to wear women’s clothing as a statement of rejection. I totally understand it and applaud it. I don’t do it, but I totally get it.
Just because no-one was arrested, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Just the police showing up could have been enough to de-escalate. Sorted, with minimal fuss and intervention.
The same logic applies to your anti-football story. There’s a stark difference between banter between two teams’ fans and that turning into an affray. It’s not my scene personally, but banter isn’t a crime. It’s British culture, lol.
So, police presence to the beach area around 200 kids is de-escalation, so presumably de-escalation of an “affray” (your implication), whereas police presence on a massive scale to thousands of Neanderthal middle-aged misogynists is “banter”.
You object elsewhere today of stereotypes, but use them freely here. Do you not?
I’m pleased that your argument its as fallible as my own. 🙂
Banter isn’t a crime, agreed. British culture is a misnomer, agreed. I just don’t see that these 200 kids weren’t just guilty of “banter”. There is no evidence here to suggest otherwise.
I think kids get a bad time generally. Weren’t we all just frustrated teenagers once? I’d like kids to be cut a bit of slack sometimes. The horrors of the world right now are not due to teenagers (or Neanderthal football fans, for that matter).
The “slack” is that no-one was arrested, and the reported affray (which can be the threat of violence) was de-escalated with minimal intervention. Belief in the report is fairly irrelevant. Overall, it’s a sign of effective policing. The same logic applies to why police are present at football matches, and not just turn up when something kicks off, pardon the pun.
Whataboutism is a fallacious argument. And you refer to calling out hate speech and racial stereotyping by Notagain, however, you’re also changing the goalposts, again, pardon the pun, by adding in misogyny – let’s not just keep adding extra bits to your comparison. It’s also not stereotyping to challenge the flaws of your…ironically, stereotyping, lol.
But yeah, kids do get a bad deal…we should do more for them!
A fine Bank Holiday legacy going back to the 60s!
Last day of college, straight down The Drive, across Hove Lawns, down to the beach!
Have a lovely peaceful weekend.
And I hope the Artemis astronauts get home safely.
Same!
Benjamin, you’re trying to present yourself as the voice of reason here, but you’re not being nearly as consistent as you think.
You dismiss concerns by leaning on “no arrests” as proof everything was handled and therefore justified, yet earlier you argued that lack of arrests doesn’t mean nothing happened. You’re switching standards depending on what suits your point in the moment.
You also throw out terms like “whataboutism” and “fallacious” as if that settles the argument, but RSummers’ comparison—whether you agree with it or not—is clearly about consistency in how different groups are perceived and policed. Just labelling it a fallacy avoids engaging with that underlying point.
And on the football comparison, calling it “banter” while acknowledging heavy policing is exactly the tension being highlighted. You can’t both normalise one scenario and problematise another without explaining why the distinction holds beyond personal preference.
To be clear: yes, police stepping in early to de-escalate is a good thing. And yes, large groups—teenagers or otherwise—can become volatile. But the discussion here isn’t helped by selectively applying logic and then framing disagreement as misunderstanding or bad reasoning.
If you want to challenge others, you’ve got to apply the same standards across the board—otherwise it just comes across as arguing to win, not to be consistent.
Wrong again, JamesGPT, that’s another mischaracterisation. I challenged the logic of a flawed analogy of stereotyping “neanderthal misogynists”. I also specifically said kids have a bad deal, and that we should do more for them. My stance, as is typical when you generate these summaries, was more nuanced. GPT does not understand nuance particularly well, unless it is specifically stated.