Milton Keynes swarmed by youths in latest ‘link-up’ chaos after London disorder

Another major UK city was hit by disorder as gangs of youths descended on the streets following online ‘link-up’ calls.

Large groups of teenagers gathered in central Milton Keynes on Saturday night, in scenes echoing recent chaos in London and Birmingham.

The phenomenon, driven by social media, has seen young people organise mass meet-ups in city centres, with trouble quickly flaring.

In Milton Keynes, tensions rose as crowds refused to disperse, with reports of clashes with police.

As numbers swelled, police were called in, with around ten patrol cars attending to manage the situation.

Witnesses said the trouble later spilled into The Point shopping centre at around 7.15pm, where large groups of teenagers gathered and began targeting police vehicles.

One onlooker described chaotic scenes as officers struggled to contain the crowd.

“It was honestly terrifying to witness...

While we were walking to the bus stop, there was a large group of kids and one police car, so we stayed to make sure our friend was safe.

"More and more teens appeared, and by 7.15pm there were loads of them.

Kids started swarming the police car, stopping them from leaving even though it was trying to reverse.

“Multiple children were trying to barge into the police, and officers had to push them back.

That’s when the police physically put one of them on the ground.

Kids were running in different directions, trying to get away from police.”
Two teenage girls were reportedly escorted to safety by officers as the situation escalated.

The crowds eventually began to thin out as smaller groups drifted away from the town centre.

Thames Valley Police said they were first alerted at around 4.15pm to a large gathering in Campbell Park following the Easter event.

A spokesman said: “We received a report of a large group gathering in Campbell Park yesterday around 4.15pm, following an Easter Egg Hunt event being promoted on social media, which drew a large number of people.

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“Our officers engaged with organisers and monitored the situation which was initially good natured.

As the numbers increased and crowd behaviour changed, a Section 34 dispersal order for Central Milton Keynes was authorised at 7.26pm yesterday.

“This is an order to prevent further escalation and to enable officers to effectively move people on.

A small number of individuals were briefly detained to prevent further disturbance taking place.

One person was arrested but then de-arrested.

“The dispersal order expired at 8am this morning.”
The disorder follows similar incidents in recent days, including two outbreaks of chaos on Clapham High Street and large-scale trouble in Birmingham city centre last weekend, all believed to be linked to viral ‘link-up’ posts online.