Six people were arrested and weapons seized after disorder in Southend-on-Sea on Tuesday evening, police said.

Essex Police said it had put a Section 60 dispersal order in place after “incidents of disorder” were reported on the city’s seafront and high street.

The arrests came as David Burton-Sampson, the Labour MP for Southend West and Leigh, warned people to “keep away” from the area.

Police said members of the public had since been dispersed and investigations into the incident were ongoing.

The Section 60 order, which remains in place until 20:00 BST on Wednesday, allows a constable in uniform to stop and search any pedestrian or anything carried by them, as well as vehicles, for offensive weapons.

It covers areas such as Marine Parade, Pier Hill, High Street, Western Esplanade and both the city’s train stations.

“We have a zero-tolerance approach to violence, disorder and carrying weapons in Essex,” Chief Supt Morgan Cronin said.

“We have a large number of officers in the city centre, who have already seized a number of weapons and made quick arrests following these incidents.”

The disorder began at about 19:00 on Tuesday with large crowds of young people seen on the Southend’s seafront, which had been busy on the UK’s hottest day of the year.

Members of the public were dispersed from the area by about 23:30, prompting additional police patrols in the city overnight.

Essex Police said it was “continuing our investigations into the incidents of disorder in the city this evening, with several lines of enquiry to identify further suspects in addition to the six people arrested”.

The force said “while our work is ongoing there will be a large and visible police presence across the city centre, and further disorder will not be tolerated”.

Previous dispersal orders have been put in place in the city in response to concerns about the behaviour of groups of young people who have gathered on the seafront.

Earlier, Daniel Cowan, Labour leader of Southend City Council, said there had been a “large influx of young people”.

Writing on his Facebook and X accounts, he said: “I’m urging calm and encouraging people to avoid Jubilee beach this evening as Essex Police deal with a large influx of young people.

“It’s a developing situation that CCTV and the police are monitoring and more police resources are en route to support the dispersal order that is in place.”

Essex Police thanked “the vast law-abiding majority of the public for their co-operation” and asked witnesses to come forward.

Anyone with information or dashcam footage of the disorder has been asked to contact the force on its website or by calling 101, quoting incident number 1094.