Six people have been arrested and weapons have been seized after disorder on an Essex seafront on Tuesday night.

Disturbing footage on social media showed at least four people dressed in black brandishing large knives in Marine Parade near the Adventure Island theme park.

Essex Police said they put a section 60 dispersal order in place, which gives officers powers to exercise stop and searches, after reports of violence at around 7pm.

It comes after a video shared on social media appeared to show at least four people dressed in black brandishing large knives near the Adventure Island theme park.

Section 60 powers allow a constable in uniform to stop and search any pedestrian or anything carried by them, any vehicle, its driver and passengers, for offensive weapons or dangerous instruments.

Last night, Essex Police confirmed that six people had been arrested and several weapons had been seized in the ongoing incident.

Daniel Cowan, leader of Southend Council, has released a statement this morning stating he "never wants to see this again".

He said: "Last night we saw some hugely upsetting incidents in our city, the likes of which I never want to see again.

"The actions of those involved were deplorable, disgusting and people intent on acting like this are not welcome in Southend.

"We cannot tolerate this kind of behaviour and whilst I have received regular briefings on this, I have asked to meet senior colleagues at Essex Police for a full debrief which will consider what happened, the response and any lessons learned.

"I do also want to thank the council's community safety and transport safety teams and police colleagues who last night faced up to an intimidating situation, and also our CCTV team who ensured our teams on the ground and police colleagues had the right intelligence and information to deal with this."