Camden New Journal - by PAUL KEILTHY Published: 9 August 2007
Police officer injured in dealing with street brawl
A POLICE officer was injured when brawls broke out twice in 60 minutes in Camden Town in the early hours of Saturday. Late-night customers scattered as tear gas or pepper spray was used during a fight in newly-renovated Inverness Street, according to residents who called 999 from flats overlooking the pedestrian precinct.
The street, lined with fashionable bars and the recent recipient of a £1.5 million council facelift intended to ‘design out crime’, was filled with revellers at 1am.
One neighbour, who spoke anonymously, said: “The street was full of shouting and coughing and someone said there was a gas canister in Bar Uno.”
When police arrived and attempted to deal with the large crowd in the street, a 27-year-old officer was allegedly attacked by a Camden Town man who was suffering injuries from the fracas. John Charles, 34, from Auden Place, has since been charged with assaulting police, resisting arrest and public disorder.
An hour earlier and yards away in Jamestown Road, two men were taken by ambulance to the Royal Free hospital after a brawl outside Bar Arizona, which left them and one other teenager with cuts to their faces and throats.
Witnesses reported bottles, chairs and tables flying as ten men fought in the street.
Police are seeking a gang of seven men in connection with the attack.