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Two more Thetford disorder arrests takes total to 15

Neve Gordon-Farleigh
Zoie O'Brien/BBC Two police officers standing in front of a marked police van outside a property in Thetford in Norfolk. Both officers have their backs turned to the camera and the van is parked on the road with the back doors of the van wide open.Zoie O'Brien/BBC
Norfolk Police said it had made two arrests on Sunday including a teenage boy

Two more arrests have been made following three nights of unrest in a Norfolk town.

Disorder linked to anti-immigration protests took place in Thetford in Norfolk on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with a police presence in the area ever since.

Norfolk Police said a man in his 20s, arrested on Sunday on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker and being in possession of a Class B drug, remains in custody.

A teenage boy, arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker, was taken to Bury St Edmunds Police Investigation Centre and has since been released on bail until 4 October.

The force has made 15 arrests in total since the disorder started last week.

Scott Hussey People are gathered in the street outside a property. A row of police officers are visible outside the house. Some of the people are wearing hoodies and holding mobile phones.Scott Hussey
Witnesses described hundreds of people gathered on Clover Way in Thetford at a property said to be housing asylum seekers

Officers were "subjected to significant aggression" after protesters attempted to enter homes where they believed asylum seekers were living on Tuesday and Wednesday night.

On Wednesday, protests involving up to 200 people were reported.

The protests took place following proposals to convert RAF Barnham in Suffolk, a former military base, into asylum seeker accommodation.

John Fairhall/BBC Broken window. It is a black, round hole with peripheral cracking around it.John Fairhall/BBC
A string of properties across Thetford were targeted, including a house on Elm Road

More stories on the Thetford disorder:

Since the three nights of disorder, the force said protest had remained "largely peaceful" with no serious disorder reported.

Dep Chief Constable Dave Marshall said further arrests were expected to be made.

He said: "Our officers continue to review footage from previous disorder in Thetford as part of ongoing efforts to identify those responsible for committing offences.

"We will maintain an increased visible presence in the days ahead, and we hope the peaceful scenes witnessed over the last two nights will continue."

The force introduced Section 34 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. This means officers can direct anyone committing, or who may commit, anti-social behaviour to leave the area from 16:00 BST on Sunday to 16:00 on Tuesday.

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