Teenagers stormed the streets of a south London neighbourhood as part of an Easter holiday “link up”, causing people to barricade themselves within shops.
Footage on social media appeared to show huge crowds of young people, many wearing masks, gathering on Clapham High Street on Tuesday evening with several supermarkets forced to close their doors.
Police were seen in the area and appeared to be carrying out several arrests.
In one TikTok video, smoke can be seen billowing from Clapham Common with a number of police officers in attendance, with the caption reading: “Do NOT attend Clapham Courts linkups.”
Another clip showed teenagers gathering outside the local McDonald’s branch before sprinting away once a police car pulled up.
One local resident, Nicola James, told LBC the incident had been “total chaos”.
She said: “There were about 200 to 300 people, all teenagers, heaps of them wearing balaclavas… Big groups of them would just start screaming and then running up the high street, but also in the middle of the road.
“There were heaps of them outside Holland and Barrett at one point and probably 20 police officers were just keeping them at bay.
“It just felt like a really intense situation and you weren’t quite sure what was going on or what was really going to happen next.”
She added: “It’s just insane. It’s quite frightening to have it happen right outside your front door.”
Schools broke up for the Easter holidays last Friday, with disruption also reported in Clapham on Saturday.
The Metropolitan Police were forced to issue a dispersal order after more than 100 teenagers gathered in a supermarket, with reports of shoplifting.
The Met said of Saturday’s incident: “At around 4.45pm on Saturday 28 March, police responded to reports of a group of around 100 young people causing antisocial behaviour and stealing from a number of businesses on Clapham High Street.
“Officers imposed a dispersal order and made three arrests. Three girls, two aged 16 and one 15-year-old, were arrested for shoplifting and assault. They have since been bailed.”
