RAVERS who tried to descend on Southend beach for an illegal party threw missiles at police as officers blocked their path.

Essex Police despatched dozens of units to the seafront as the large group of people - believed to be more than 300- arrived by bus to the Sea Life Centre car park.

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The group did not have access to any music equipment after it was seized earlier in the day when the coaches had arrived at Bradwell-on-Sea.

During the incident in Southend on Wednesday night, some members of the group threw objects at officers trying to move them on.

In a bid to control the situation, a dispersal order was put in place from Wednesday night until yesterday morning, running 4.5 miles from Shoebury at Uncle Toms Café to Chalkwell Beach.

After the incident was cleared at 1.20am, two men from London, aged 23, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance and have been released under investigation.

A 20-year-old woman from London was arrested in Southend on suspicion of using threatening behaviour to cause harassment. She has since accepted an adult conditional caution.

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Joan Tiney, chairman of Southend Seafront Traders Association, blasted the revellers, saying they were spoiling the seafront for other people.

She said: “We want families down there, we don’t want this herd there.

“Some of them are good as gold, but when we get big groups together they think they can do what they like.”

Chief Superintendent Glen Pavelin said yesterday: “Our operations continue to remain in place and I want to reassure people that this event will not take place.

“We would like to thank the communities in Bradwell-on-Sea and Southend for their support on Wednesday.

“We took robust action, we seized a second generator ahead of its arrival and we made another arrest.

“A section of the group threw objects at my officers. This won’t be tolerated and we will carry out our enquiries to locate those individuals.”

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