A “firework war” organised over Tik Tok led to “chaos” in Stratford as a mother with a pram was hit with a rocket.
Attendees were encouraged to meet up for “fun firework war” near Westfield Stratford yesterday (October 31).
The event, organised over the social media app, advertised a “Halloween meetup” where people were encouraged to wear all black, a Halloween mask and to come equipped with fireworks.
The yobs were told to gather at the stairs leading to the shopping centre at 5.30pm to commence the “war”.
Thousands had seen the videos shared to promote the flyer.
It resulted in chaos as around 200 people were in the area as fireworks were allegedly hurled at groups of people near Stratford station.
One shocking video shows a mother with a pram being hit by a rocket.
A caption for a Snapchat video that is spreading online reads: “They burnt the baby”.
firework hits mom and baby in stratford pic.twitter.com/jFZ8C3JH4W
— Bardi (@aaronsupper) October 31, 2022
Other trending Tik Tok videos show fireworks being set off and crowds of police by the station.
Several police vans were parked by the bus station as an alert blared out saying: “This is an evacuation announcement, please leave the bus station immediately, taking all your possessions with you.”
Officers had to respond in full protective equipment due to the nature of the situation.
Youths were seen being pushed away from police, who shouted “get back” as they approached officers.
Chaos in Stratford after people shoot fireworks at eachother near Westfield pic.twitter.com/yTmT2Wrs3y
— UB1UB2 Southall (@UB1UB2) October 31, 2022
Despite claims of the rockets being aimed at members of the public, there were no reports of any injuries.
But police have acknowledged that officers were not aware of a mother being hit until footage appeared online.
The Metropolitan Police have said that a teenage girl was arrested after officers were called to the scene at 6.24pm.
Chief Superintendent Simon Crick, who is in command of policing for Newham and Waltham Forest, said:“This was a very challenging situation and I am proud of the way my officers, supported by teams from across the Met, responded to restore calm.
“Sadly each year around this time we see incidents, often in busy public places, where fireworks are set off in a reckless way causing panic and risking serious injury.
“We were lucky on Monday evening that nobody – either the public or officers – was hurt. We saw from the video where a firework exploded by a pushchair just how real the risk of serious injury could be."
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