Watch: Mob of 300 children rampage through shopping centre

Hundreds of schoolchildren charged through a shopping centre with some tussling with security guards, before police issued a dispersal order.

The mob of youngsters, involved in what police called “an incident of anti-social behaviour” in Milton Keynes on Thursday afternoon, was caught in video footage shared online.

A security guard can be seen grabbing a boy’s backpack and pulling him to the ground in a clip shared widely on social media.

The crowds of children, many in school uniform, appear to be pushing and shoving both the guards and police officers. The clip shows a boy slouching on the floor against the wall and talking to one of the guards.

‘Dragged away by security guards’

Janey Chandler, 36, said she was in Boots when she heard screaming.

She told Metro: “When I went outside I saw loads of schoolchildren and it appeared to be a fight between a few boys with loads of people around filming and watching.

“I saw a few boys get separated and dragged away by security. But all the kids just ran more and started screaming and fighting elsewhere. It was absolute carnage.”

Thames Valley Police said they had issued a dispersal order in central Milton Keynes until midnight on Thursday “following an incident of anti-social behaviour involving around 300 children.”

Serious problem

It comes after government commissioners called for anti-social behaviour to be taken more seriously.

Baroness Newlove, the victims’ commissioner, and Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner, said that persistent anti-social behaviour should no longer be treated as a “low-level” problem.

Last summer, Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, warned of US-style lawlessness following an incident on Oxford Street. A social-media-fuelled campaign to “rob JD Sports” brought violence to the busy shopping street when dozens of young people clashed with police.