'It's just getting ridiculous round here' say parents

FAMILIES FRIGHTENED TO LET KIDS OUT TO PLAY AFTER MASS BRAWL

- THOMAS GEORGE

PARENTS living on an estate where a man was injured in a mass brawl say they are ‘terrified of letting their kids out to play’.

Armed police descended on Argyle Street in Heywood at around 11pm on Thursday (September 12) following reports of a disturbance. Eyewitnesses said they ‘saw a car driving towards three guys’ before a group of men began ‘attacking a car with weapons’.

It was the second time in as many days that armed police have swarmed the Darnhill estate. On Wednesday evening, officers were called to nearby Sutherland Road following reports of a man ‘armed with a crossbow’.

Witnesses reported seeing officers ‘pointing guns at a house’ before bursting through the door - while children were playing outside. A man in his 30s was seen being handcuffed by police, but has since been released with no further action.

On Thursday evening, people living in nearby Argyle Street said they were disturbed by ‘shouting’ and ‘banging’. One woman, who asked not to be named, said she saw a car ‘driving towards three guys’ on a footpath outside her home.

“It looked like it was going to speed into them, but it wasn’t going fast enough so they jumped out of the way,” she added.