Today, Sunday 4 April, we attended reports of a large gathering in Dorstone, Hereford.
Officers attended and made attempts to engage with those at the site and asked them to leave the area as per the current lockdown regulations.
Many of those in attendance left when asked however a Section 63 dispersal order under Criminal Justice Public Order Act was issued in order to disperse the rest of the group.
A number of arrests have been for driving offences since the initial report of this incident at 1am this morning.
Herefordshire Superintendent Edd Williams said: “We received several reports from concerned members of the public regarding the number of people gathered in Dorstone as well as loud noise.
“Our first step is always to engage with the community and that was our initial response in this case and a number of the attendees were compliant, however it became necessary to issue the Section 63 order in order to disperse the remaining members of the public.
“I am pleased to say that we were able to clear the area in a calm and peaceful way.
“I’d like to assure the community that we take this very seriously and dispersing the gathering was a top priority for officers today. Police will continue to patrol the area to ensure the issue not re-emerge.”
