The Sandford Court flats Pic: Angela Phillips

Hackney police say that they were attacked with bottles and bricks by masked youths when they were called to a disturbance Saturday night at Sandford Court, Bethune Road.

They say they were pelted from balconies, as well as having bins pushed toward their vehicles to block the entrance.

Eastlondonlines spoke to a teenager who had joined in the dancing. He had seen a bottle thrown at a policeman with a riot shield, but the lack of debris at the site, when we visited on Sunday morning, suggests this was an isolated case.

We spoke to some residents of the Sandford Court flats, none of whom were associated with the party. They preferred to remain anonymous, but said they saw no signs of police being targeted with objects from balconies. Nor did they report seeing anyone who was masked.

Several residents said that the party had started in a house in nearby West Bank and the group was then urged to move to Sandford Court by police, after complaints from neighbours. The Metropolitan Police could neither confirm nor deny this.

One elderly female resident, who lives on the ground floor, said she was woken when large number of people arrived: “they knocked on my door and said they wanted to set speakers up outside and asked if they could use my electricity to plug them in, I said no, so they found someone upstairs I think.”

“There were a lot of people. The place was full. Later there was some fighting. The people switched off the music when the fighting started and everyone started to leave,” she added.

The area that the party was held Pic: Angela Phillips

Another local, James Brown, said: “the kids were enjoying themselves, there was no drinking, only dancing, but the police came with riot shields and dogs.”

Brown talked to a lot of the younger party-goers (some as young as 10 years old) and found that they’d come from all over London. He said: “they were disoriented and didn’t know how to get home. I took a whole group of them to Stamford Hill to show them how to find buses and trains.”

Speaking of last night’s disorder, another elderly resident said: “if a lot of young people are together in a confined space then sometimes trouble happens.”

“I don’t blame the kids, they have nowhere else to go. I don’t blame the police either, they were just doing their job. I blame the people in charge. The problem for these children is that they have no where to go to enjoy themselves.” He added.

The incident involved a large number of police cars, police with riot shields and dog handlers. The area was cleared by 2am according to residents. There have been no arrests and the only casualty was a young woman who had an asthma attack and was treated by paramedics at the scene.