A barmaid at the White Lion pub on Bangor High Street has described the moment a firework was thrown into the pub.
Sian Williams was working at the White Lion, when the firework was thrown into the doorway of the pub during the early hours of Thursday morning. Although all the customers had left the pub and nobody was injured, Sian and her colleagues were left shocked and are concerned about future incidents occurring.
Sian told the BBC: “There was a big bang and we could see sparks from underneath the door, the smoke alarm went off and I phoned the police.
“I was scared and shaking, and still I’m nervous in case there are any other incidents like this.”
A number of incidents of antisocial behaviour have occurred in Bangor over the last few days, including youths throwing chairs in fast-food restaurants. The behaviour, which police described as ’despicable’, led to a 48 hour dispersal order being granted for Bangor city centre, from 31 October to Saturday 2 November.
The order gave Police Officers the power to disperse groups of individuals and order them to leave an area for up to 48 hours, if they are committing, or are likely to commit anti-social behaviour, crime or disorder.
If a person refuses to leave having been given a direction to do so or returns to the area within the specified period, then that person commits a criminal offence for which they can be arrested.
North Wales Police Inspector Dafydd Curry said: “The behaviour of some has been despicable, and this is unacceptable.
“Bangor city centre has in recent days been subjected to high levels of anti-social behaviour, public order and criminal damage caused by groups of youths.”
In an interview with the BBC, Inspector Curry said: “We don’t want to criminalize anybody, particularly young people.
“Our first stance with the dispersal order is, if we are asking people under 18 to leave and they are refusing, our first response will be to take them home to their parents. An arrest and criminalization is very much the last thing we want to do.”
Police told the BBC they will be working with others in the community to deal with the problem on anti-social behaviour in the longer term.
