Firefighters have condemned the actions of people caught on video shooting fireworks at pedestrians and cyclists in a residential street.
The video of the incident was posted on Twitter by Shomrim, a self-proclaimed “proactive neighbourhood watch” group, based in north-east London.
Filmed on October 22 at about 9.50pm, the clip shows a group throwing fireworks in the direction of pedestrians and bike riders in Springfield, Hackney.
Firing fireworks at people is dangerous, and can cause serious injury. Why do some youths think it's acceptable? This happens far too often pic.twitter.com/0kYYZvolz7
— Shomrim (Stamford Hill) (@Shomrim) October 25, 2016
Shulem Stern witnessed the incident and said it had been a “normal quiet evening” until then.
The 30-year-old said there had been a few youths gathering and chatting peacefully until fireworks began to be thrown.
He said: “From across the road one of them shot a live firework directly at them, and it literally missed one of the cyclists by inches and it went towards where the youths were running.
“I know these things happen especially around this season but it is just so dangerous. It just needs to hit someone and it could cause serious burns.”
Following the incident he said the group “scattered”.
Mr Stern said he has seen the same thing happen before, adding: “It is literally a case of something terrible waiting to happen.”
Mark Hazelton, group manager for community safety at London Fire Brigade, condemned the actions of those in the footage.
He said: “Using fireworks in this way is incredibly dangerous and can cause serious injury or worse. People should never throw fireworks and should never put them in their pockets.”
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police confirmed they were called to the incident but that they “could not find any trace of the suspects or any injured”.
