Three men aged 21, 23 and 28 were arrested following the incident after being stopped in a vehicle.
Three men suffered serious injuries following an assault on Helen’s Bay beach which police are treating as a racially-motivated hate crime.
The incident took place on Monday May 25 at around 9pm on the popular North Down beach and allegedly involved three men in their 30s being assaulted by three men in their 20s following a verbal altercation. The victims suffered serious injuries in the attack.
Three men aged 21, 23 and 28 were arrested following the incident after being stopped in a vehicle. They remain in police custody, with police saying the assaults are being treated as racially motivated hate crimes.
Ards & North Down District Chief Inspector Hutchinson said: “At 9pm, we received a report that three men aged in their thirties had been assaulted on the beach by three other men, following an earlier verbal altercation. They sustained a number of serious, but non-life threatening, injuries.
“A short time later, three men aged 28, 23 and 21 were stopped in their vehicle and arrested on suspicion of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon.
“A search of the vehicle led to the discovery of a quantity of suspected class A and class B drugs, and the 23 year old was subsequently further arrested on suspicion of possession of class A and class B drugs. The three remain in custody at this time.”
Chief Inspector Hutchinson continued: “This matter is being treated as a racially-motivated hate crime. We know that this was shocking for those enjoying the evening sunshine on the beach and want to reassure the local community that our investigation is progressing at pace.
“We had an increased police presence in the area to ensure that everyone left the beach safely, and were on the scene quickly – but want to commend members of the public who helped to prevent the altercation escalating further.
“As our enquiries continue, we would appeal to anyone who may have witnessed this assault, or the events leading up to it, to contact police on 101, quoting reference 1721 25/05/26.
“We’re particularly keen to hear from anyone who may have recorded footage of the incident.”
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