A man has told how he was whacked with a strip of metal wielded by a teenage boy when a gang of yobs tried to mug him in Victoria Park.
The man, who didn’t want to be named, said he was struck a couple of times on the leg, and then punched as he was surrounded by a group of four teenagers on Sunday evening at around 5.30pm.
is being linked to a number of other incidents, including violence, muggings, robberies and criminal damage in the Victoria Park, Bedminster, Windmill Hill and Totterdown areas.
Police in the area as they try to catch the gang, and a public meeting is being held about the issue on Monday evening next week (December 2).
The local resident said he was walking with a friend in the park towards Bedminster station, when he was surrounded and accosted by the group of four.
“One stood and blocked my path, he was smaller than the others and most definitely the ringleader,” he said.
“The rest surrounded me, after letting my friend go past. They basically said stuff like ‘turn out your pockets’, ‘give me your phone’, ‘what have you got for us?’.
“I politely declined, and it escalated from there,” he said.
“They produced a strip of metal. I’ve seen it described on Facebook as a metal bar, but it wasn’t quite that, it was one of those strips of metal that plasterers use on the corner of walls.
“And he whacked me on the leg with it, and then did it again. It was surreal. I just laughed and grabbed it as he went to whack me again. I wrenched it out of his hand and folded it up, and threw it into the bushes, just to get it out of the equation,” he added.
The four yobs then set upon the two men, attacking them violently.
“They were pushing and shoving and trying to be intimidating. Both of us were determined not to simply punch them in the face, and one of them swung at me and caught me on the chin, and I’ve got some bruising and swelling because of that.
“We managed to push them out of the way and jogged off, and they gave a half-hearted pursuit.
“We went to the end of the path, stopped and advised people coming the other way not to go there, as we phoned the police,” he added.
“Looking back now, it was worrying. That metal thing could’ve done some damage if it had gone into someone’s face.
“It’s only afterwards that you realise what happened. They were kids, maybe aged 15 or 16. We didn’t want to meet their violence with more violence, because for one thing you never quite know if they are going to be stupid and pull out a knife or something.
“In a sense they were lucky, that they met us and not two blokes who would be a bit more keen to teach them a lesson,” he added.
Police said they were stepping up patrols, and were keen to identify the youths, after a rise in violent incidents like this since September in the Victoria Park area.
Local volunteers on the Victoria Park Action Group, which usually meet to decide on improvements to the park, are holding a public meeting on Monday, December 2, to discuss the rise in incidents.
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