U.K. resorts relive mods, rockers violence of 60s

Press, 9 April 1980, Page 9

U.K. resorts relive mods, rockers violence of 60s

NZPA London

Senior police officers in violence-hit seaside resorts mounted special patrols early yesterday to make sure that invading mobs of youngsters would get no opportunities to create more trouble.

But all was quiet in the two most seriously affected [owns—Scarborough, North Yorkshire, and Brighton, Sussex —after a week-end of holiday violence.

Brighton traders and hoteliers were yesterday counting the cost after clashes between rival gangs, which were reminiscent of the mods and rockers-trouble of the early 60s. The police in the town arrested a total of 56 people on Easter Monday in what a spokesman described as “one of our busiest days in years.”

‘The arrests followed violence and the smashing of shop windows. A holidaymaker said that the Incidents had “terrified people out of their wits.” I The Yorkshire re-sort ofj

I Scarborough was returning to normal as most of the 2000 scooter-riding youngsters who invaded the town for a convention which led to three days of trouble started the trek back home.

Chief Superintendent Colin Riley and Superintendent John Carlton toured the town early yesterday and declared that all was quiet and back to normal. ' Superintendent Carlton 'said: “We’re tired, weary, and fed up—but we’re glad: to see the end of this Easter holiday.” ' Nightspots had closed without further trouble adding to the 217 arrests made over the holiday week-end, he said. Other towns were also hit by violence. A gang of (youths ran amuck through a

I fairground at Great Yar'mouth, and fighting broke out at Southend between groups of punk rockers, teddy boys, and mods. At Margate, the police arrested 20 people after hundreds of mods poured into the town.

Ayr, on the Firth of Clyde, was another destination for mods and rockers, and 20 people were arrested, said a Strathclyde police spokesman.

Meanwhile, London did not escape violence completely. The police yesterday arrested 16 teenagers after a disturbance at the end of an Easter fair at Finsbury Park, north of London, in which a gang of about 200 youths pelted police with rocks and stones and smashed a couple of shop windows nearby.