Police say<\/a> \u201capproximately 15-20 youths\u201d had congregated in the area with some reportedly masked and carrying sticks and bats.<\/p>\n Mr Durkan said: \u201cThese clashes are sectarian in nature. Tensions have been simmering for some time and there have been a few, highly publicised flashpoints. <\/p>\n \u201cThere is a fear now, coming in to the summer, that there could be an increase in the frequency and intensity of these clashes. We don\u2019t want this to happen anywhere and there is a piece of work to be done there around reducing tension. <\/p>\n \u201cI see a role for organisations with positive influence on young people in the area to be involved in that.\u201d<\/p>\n In a social media post, the Foyle MLA said there have been a number of incidents in the area over recent months.<\/p>\n \u201cResidents have been dealing with months of heartache and headache with ongoing anti-social behaviour,\u201d he added. \u201cThis is having a serious impact on those living nearby, especially older residents and those with young children.\u201d<\/p>\n A PSNI spokesperson said: \u201cPolice received reports in relation to anti-social behaviour in the Waterside on Wednesday evening, 22 April.<\/p>\n \u201cJust after 6pm, it was reported there were two large groups of young people – described as teenage boys – some of whom were masked and were throwing stones at each other. Some were carrying what was described as sticks and bats. One of the reports stated these youths were seen running towards Lisnagelvin Playing Fields. <\/p>\n \u201cPolice responded, and upon arrival in the area, there were approximately 15-20 youths who had congregated, and were standing opposite the Lisnagelvin pitches. Those who had gathered subsequently made off when police arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n The statement continued: \u201cPolice continued to extensively patrol the area, but did not locate any of those who they had seen earlier, or any further large groups.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were further reports made to police from between 9.30pm and 9.45pm. These reported youths congregating in the same area, some carrying wooden planks. There was a report about a possible organised fight. <\/p>\n \u201cPolice responded, and upon arrival, there were approximately 15-20 males, however they dispersed and left the area. <\/p>\n \u201cPolice remained in the area to provide reassurance and there were no further reports following this.\u201d<\/p>\n The spokesperson added: \u201cWaterside Neighbourhood officers will be in the area, conducting high visibility reassurance patrols and, in the meantime, police encourage anyone with information or relevant footage in relation to what was reported on Wednesday evening to report it via 101, quoting reference 1301 22\/04\/26. <\/p>\n \u201cAlternatively, a report to police can be made via http:\/\/www.psni.police.uk\/makeareport\/<\/a> or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Serious \u201csectarian clashes\u201d involving young people carrying sticks and bats at sports pitches in Derry have been condemned,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":913993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[188,16767,1144,1618,72250,182,16,15,16437],"class_list":["post-913992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-crime","tag-derry","tag-northern-ireland","tag-psni","tag-sectarian","tag-social-media","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-young-people"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116456144818480757","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=913992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Investigation](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SMWKSVHOBBA5NIHNLTZV63DV3M.jpg\")
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