Three men have been arrested and a dispersal order has been put in place across the city centre after we received information about an event that was due to take place today (19 May).
Police received information that a flash mob event organised through social media, was due to take place in the city centre at some point today.
Police have acted to prevent it going ahead, after a similar event, that took place in August 2022 resulted in disorder.
Damage was caused to stores in the Bullring and six people were arrested after 500 people gathered at last year’s flash event.
In dawn swoops today, we arrested an 18-year-old and two men aged 19 from addresses across Birmingham who we believe may be involved in organising the event.
They are currently being held in custody on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance.
We have issued a section 35 dispersal order across the city centre that will be in place for the next 24 hours.
This means that police have extra powers to disperse people from the city, if they have reasonable grounds to suspect there are present to engage in crime or disorder.
It will allow us to keep people who visit the city safe and to make sure that people are coming into our city for the right reason.
There will be extra officers patrolling the city centre to make sure that the event does not go ahead and to ensure the safety of businesses and visitors.
Detective Superintendent Jim Munro, who is leading today’s operation, said: “ We’ve taken action today to prevent the chance of disorder and anti-social behaviour.
“Acting on intelligence that we’ve gathered, we’ve made arrests and we hope this sends a strong message to people who feel they can use our city to cause disruption.
“We know how disruptive large gatherings can be and we work with partners to ensure organised events meet licensing standards, minimise disruption and are safe.
“However, when the event does not meet these standards and is aimed at causing maximum disruption, we will take action to ensure the safety of our visitors, workers and businesses to the city.”
