Two youths marched home by police as people abused and have stones chucked at them on Portsmouth seafront

Two teenagers were frogmarched home to their parents as police contended with numerous reports of anti-social behaviour over the bank holiday weekend.

On Friday, a dispersal order was issued to try and clamp down on aggressive behaviour. This covered areas such as the Camber, the Hot Walls, Southsea Common, South Parade Pier and Canoe Lake.

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This granted powers – under Section 34 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act – to move people on from an area and make them not return for an allocated period of time. It is a criminal offence to breach this order.

The dispersal order was lifted at 5pm yesterday, with police enforcing the order eight times – all against teenagers. Two youths failed to comply and were frogmarched home to their parents.

A Hampshire and isle of Wight Constabulary spokeswoman said: ‘On Friday and Saturday we received a number of reports of anti-social behaviour from the South Parade area involving a group of young people. Reports included that passers-by had been verbally abused and that stones had been thrown.

‘We also received reports of theft from the nearby Co-op. Officers were in the area across the weekend and eight Section 35 orders were issued to people aged between 15 and 17, requiring them to leave the area.

‘Two of these orders were breached and as a result those involved were taken home to their parents.’ The spokeswoman said less incidents were reported on Sunday and the order has not been extended to today.

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‘We will have officers in the area again today and if we receive an increase in reports then consideration will be given to implementing another dispersal order,’ she said. Police have had to issue three dispersal orders in just over two weeks.

The first order covered Commercial Road, Arundel Street and much of the Guildhall Walk area. Teenagers were seen playing football in shops, hurling stones at buses and throwing items off roofs.

Another order was issued last week for the north of the city – covering Hilsea, Northern Parade, North End, Copnor and other locations – after eight people were robbed in an hour and a PCSO was assaulted.

Regarding the theft at the Co-op, the spokeswoman said: ‘It was reported to us at 7.24pm on Friday (May 26) that a large group of teenagers had stolen various items from the store including alcohol, drinks, sweets and chocolate. We are investigating.’