Police wass ‘ambushed’ and brutally attacked by Romanian thugs when social services ‘tried to take two children from a home’.
Chaotic footage shows officers being punched, kicked, and beaten with pieces of wood as mayhem erupted in Gateshead, near Newcastle.
The ugly scenes on Tuesday evening were reportedly triggered when social workers, escorted by police, arrived at a maisonette to execute a child protection order.
A Romanian woman at the property confirmed that authorities had wanted to remove two children, aged three and five.
She said: ‘Child protection came in to take the children without any reason.
‘Four people came to take the children by force.’
Eyewitnesses told of ‘carnage’ when up to 15 men ‘charged down the stairs’ of the property and ‘ambushed’ two officers.
As the brawl spilled onto the street, an angry crowd quickly formed, with more men emerging from nearby homes to join the violence.
One officer is believed to have had lighter fuel thrown in his face while another was attacked with a panel of wooden fence.
Two officers were taken to hospital for treatment and six people were arrested.
A source on the street suggested that the children sought by social services were being looked after by another Romanian family after their father was stopped from seeing them.
