A brawl of approximately 40 teens broke out at Manly Wharf last night around 9 pm.
Witnesses say the altercation began after a single teen was targeted by the large group. Following this, another brawl between two other juveniles erupted by the wharf bus stops.
Northern Beaches Police Area Command say most people dispersed from the area upon their arrival.
No arrests were made and no injuries were reported and a knife was found on the ground and seized.
The boy who was targeted in the original alleged attack could’ve been much worse off, according to a witness statement shared with Manly Observer.
Local Simon was leaving a birthday dinner for his partner at Sake on Sunday evening when they saw a group of people hanging outside Guzman Y Gomez suddenly pursuing their victim.
“They looked like they found this kid on his own, and he sort of ran away… But as he ran away from them, he sort of backed up and fell over, and they just pounced on him,” Simon said.
“My partner just sprinted. I mean, she didn’t say a word. She just sprinted over there, he would have got a proper kicking, actually, if she hadn’t done that, because they were all on him, and they were kicking him in the head at that point.
“She just took about four or five of them out. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”
Simon followed suit and picked up the youth while the perpetrators were temporarily apprehended.
“I just grabbed him and picked him up, put him in a headlock, and then they gave chase across the road. I put him in a headlock so they couldn’t keep punching and kicking his head,” Simon explained.
The group then followed Simon to the bus stops where they attacked and threw a bottle at him leaving the beaches local with bruises on his head.
His partner then called out for him and the teen to take refuge across the road at the restaurant Fratelli Fresh.
“We just turn up, and everyone’s screaming, including the kid I’ve got hold of, who’s screaming for his life. I just threw him in the restaurant, said, take care of him, turn around to hold the door, then realised there were two doors about four or five meters apart!” Simon said.
“So [my partner] took one door and I took the other, we couldn’t quite close the door for some reason, but we just held the attackers off who were trying to get in both doors.”
Frighteningly, scores of people tried to break into the restaurant while the couple held the front lines. Thankfully Fratelli staff were able to escort the kid through the exit, guiding his escape.
While scores of readers expressed concern over the apparent “gang mentality”, others claiming to be connected to the large group told us the teen was being attacked after pulling a knife on some of them earlier in the day. Those kids then called on their friends and older siblings to seek revenge. We have not had any of these claims verified with police, who may be speaking with us further on the matter later this week.
Although police say there were no reported injuries another witness who was sitting in the outside area of the Bavarian at the time said he saw a separate vicious beatdown between two other teens shortly after the first altercation.
“There was a guy in a white t-shirt or white polo shirt. He was getting provoked and there was this tall dude who was shirtless and had his cap to the side,” the witness told Manly Observer.
“The guy with no shirt wouldn’t leave him alone. So the guy in the white t-shirt defended himself, dropped his backpack and started fighting the shirtless guy… was beating him pretty brutally.
“The police apparently said no one was hurt. I saw the guy getting beaten in the head, and then people had to sit him down. He was stumbling over the place, he would have been pretty badly concussed.”
Police said once they arrived at the scene most of the people involved left the area and then assisted in dispersing the remaining people from the area.
Footage shows officers escorting a man with his hands behind his back, however, police say no arrests were made that night.
Simon said he and his partner attempted to approach police to provide a statement but claimed they seemed ‘uninterested.’
“We came outside, and then we realised the police were across the street. So of course, we went over to have a word with the police. They were strangely uninterested,” Simon said.
“He said, Okay, we’re gonna try and find the assailants. And I went, Okay, well, I’m happy to give a statement. He just sort of looked at me and walked off… My partner was talking to one female officer, and the officer said, Well, there’s, there’s a knife involved, and that makes a difference. So I offered to leave our phone numbers with this lady, and she wasn’t interested in that either.
“We made it very clear we were just in the middle of that. We rescued him. We both got beaten. The kid got beaten, and we can give you a description, and they said we’re busy. He just turned and walked away.”
Manly MP James Griffin made a statement regarding the incident on 8 January. In it he said he was “deeply concerned” by the behaviour and he has “sought further information about the incident…. Importantly, I am also seeking further information to ensure the offenders are appropriately dealt with.”
There is an update to this story here.
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