One of the UK’s leading cinema chains has banned a film about London gangs after seven police officers were injured during a brawl in Birmingham.
Vue Cinemas has confirmed that Blue Story, which centres on the story of two friends from different south London postcodes on rival sides of a street war, will no longer be showing in any of its 91 outlets in the UK and Ireland.
Police were forced to draw tasers and use dispersal orders to break up a crowd of more than 100 people at Star City in Birmingham at around 5.30pm on Saturday after receiving reports of youths with machetes.
A 13-year-old teenage girl was amongst five teenagers arrested following the chaos, which saw families on trips to see the latest Frozen film confronted with scenes of violence.
A girl and a boy, both aged 14, and a 19-year-old man were held on suspicion of assaulting police, whilst another 14-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of obstructing police.
On Sunday afternoon, a prerecorded message on the Vue customer service line said: “We regret that we will no longer be screening the film Blue Story at any of our venues.”
The film, which is rated 15 for very strong language, strong violence, threat, sex, and drug misuse, is still listed on the cinema’s website however an error message appears when attempting to book tickets.
14-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of obstructing police.
On Sunday afternoon, a prerecorded message on the Vue customer service line said: “We regret that we will no longer be screening the film Blue Story at any of our venues.”
The film, which is rated 15 for very strong language, strong violence, threat, sex, and drug misuse, is still listed on the cinema’s website however an error message appears when attempting to book tickets.
A Vue spokesman said: “We can confirm a decision was made to remove the film.
“The safety and welfare of our customers and staff is always our first priority.”
West Midlands Police said they had made no recommendations that screenings of the film be cancelled.
Chief Superintendent Steve Graham said: “We’ve made no recommendations to Vue at all.
“If they choose to continue showing it, that’s a matter for them.”
Discussing the scale of the incident, Graham said that the disorder at the cinema – which left seven police officers with facial injuries – “may be the worst thing” responding police had seen.
Further arrests are set to be made in the wake of the brawl, which left families terrified and hiding for their own safety.
It reportedly took 90 minutes to break up the chaos, which Graham said showed the force used by officers was “proportionate” and police were not “heavy-handed”.
Two machetes and a knife were seized from the scene
Graham said it was “concerning” that some of those involved were so young.
Addressing the safety of people in Birmingham, he said: “Incidents of the scale of disorder we saw last night are rare, not just at Star City but also across the city and the broader West Midlands.
“So if anyone is feeling unsafe I can understand in the immediate wake of that why they might do.
“However Star City is still a safe place to go, Birmingham is still a safe place to go and it’s really important that our communities and families feel safe to come out and enjoy themselves.”
Asked if he was concerned about the ages of those involved, Graham said: “It is concerning, there’s no point pretending otherwise.”
He explained that officers would be heading into Birmingham schools “first thing” on Monday morning in order to try and find out why the violence had escalated.
“We know that Birmingham isn’t unusual in this,” he said. “Let’s not pretend that knife crime or violence in the under 25s is rare or is just isolated around Birmingham.
“There are no short-term fixes to this, so we’re prepared and we’re in this for the long run and we’re going to work with schools and other partners to prevent youth violence becoming an increasing problem.”
Asked where the incident ranked compared with other reports of disorder, Mr Graham said: “For some officers who were there last night, it may be the worst thing they have ever seen.
“The way in which our officers responded last night meant that it was dealt with safely and moderately quickly.
“Ninety minutes might seem like a long time but the reason we did that was that we weren’t heavy-handed, we were proportionate, and we did need to make sure we distinguished between the ordinary members of the public who were there to enjoy themselves and some of those there who were intent on disorder.”
He confirmed that though tasers – which he said were now “routinely” carried by West Midlands Police officers – were drawn during efforts to quell the disturbance, no tasers were actually discharged.
“It’s really important our officers feel comfortable by using reasonable force to protect all of those hundreds of decent people who were out there last night trying to get a meal or going to see a film at the cinema,” he said.
“So I’m happy that the force we used last night was proportionate to keep people safe.”
Anyone with information, or any footage of the incident itself, has been asked to come forward to West Midlands Police.