Baxter Park Gangs

25th February 2009

Residents in the Baxter Park area of Dundee have vowed to start a petition to demand that the authorities do more to stop gangs of young people assembling there.

Their pledge follows a night of disturbances in the park on Friday, in which two youngsters were reportedly injured.

A councillor, whose home overlooks the park, has also joined the debate and is due to meet senior police this afternoon to discuss how to prevent any further incidents.

It is understood around 40 to 50 teenagers were in the park and surrounding streets and violent scuffles took place as rival groups clashed.

One Baxter Park Terrace resident, who did not wish to be named for fear of reprisals, told The Courier she saw two teenagers being assaulted.

“I heard a lot of disruption coming from outside and thought enough was enough,” she said.

“What I saw when I got out there was at least 40 to 50 of them running towards each other from all directions, and two lads getting assaulted.

“One of them was punched in the head until he fell to the floor and three others were kicking him in the stomach and stamping on him.

“When he got up his nose was burst and blood was all over his face.

“Another lad got battered by about five or six of them.”

She said her partner had called police but the trouble had died down by the time they arrived.

“To be honest, I don’t think they were doing their job,” she added.

“This is happening every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night—it’s continuous and nobody else seems to be coming to help.”

She has pledged to pound the streets to get signatures for the petition, which will call for police and the city council to do more to prevent the scenes.

Another resident said he had tried to protect the three victims from their assailants.

Maryfield councillor Ken Lynn told The Courier last night that although he did not witness the disturbance, he had seen a large number of youngsters hanging around on Friday night.

However he stressed he did not consider the area to be a “trouble spot” and said that he would be working with police to “nip any future gang violence in the bud.”

“Police received intelligence that there might be a gang fight on Friday night so there were a lot of extra officers and community wardens, as well as a mobile CCTV van deployed in and around the park area,” he said.

“There was a disturbance but it was quickly broken up by police.

“This type of behaviour is frowned upon and I hope it does not happen again, but it is a fairly isolated incident.

“I have lived in the area for over six years and there has never been a long-standing problem with youth violence.

“I have been in contact with Inspector Garry Gold, who is responsible for the Maryfield area, over the weekend and I am meeting with Chief Inspector Kevin Lynch tomorrow, who is responsible for Dundee wide policing.

“I am confident that the police will remain on top of the issue and wish to reassure any local residents who witnessed the incident that I am doing all I can.”

Police confirmed that they received a number of calls about the disturbances.

However they added that they had received no reports of any damage to property and, while one alleged assault was reported to them, the victim had made off before they reached the scene and did not make a complaint.

Officers visited the park at around 7pm when they received a call about groups of youths heading towards it. They returned to the park at 8.30 to confront groups loitering there.

The young people were dispersed over the next hour, with groups heading in several directions, police said.

Officers later returned to the scene to attend to a drunken youth found slumped at the park gates.

The Scottish Ambulance Service confirmed that two ambulances had attended the scene, with one providing treatment to “a young person who was very drunk.”

They did not treat any other injuries.

Maryfield councillor Elizabeth Fordyce said she was not aware of Friday night’s problems.

“I know there is a problem with youths congregating there, but I am not getting adverse reports from police and community wardens.

“I could say that nine out of ten of Stobswell’s young people are not causing any trouble at all.”

Source: DC Thomson

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