A dispersal order has been put in place covering a large area of a town after a 'violent incident' involving a group armed with machetes and bats occurred in the early hours of Monday morning.

Officers in Preston had already issued a dispersal order on Saturday afternoon following numerous incidents of disorder in the Deepdale area.

The Section 60, which gives the police the power to stop and search any person in a particular area, covered a large part of Preston, including the Grange estate, Fishwick, Deepdale, and St Matthew's.

The order was extended on Sunday and is now due to last until 3.45pm on Monday (today).

However, in the early hours of Monday morning a new Section 60 was introduced covering an even wider part of the city after a large group were seen fighting with weapons, including bats and machetes.

A spokesperson for the police said: "As you may know from one of our previous posts, since 3.45pm on Saturday June 12, additional police stop and search powers have been authorised under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

"The Section 60 was authorised following incidents of disorder in the Deepdale area of Preston on Saturday. The area of this order covered a large part of Preston, including the Grange estate, Fishwick, Deepdale, and St Matthew's.

"The order was extended on Sunday and was due to last until 3.45pm on Monday.

"However, following recent events in the Plungington area during the early hours of Monday June 14 this Section 60 has now been rescinded and a new Section 60 covering a larger area of Preston has been introduced.

"The incident in Plungington was a serious and violent incident involving a large group armed with weapons including Machetes and Bats.

"The incident is not believed to be a random or coincidental attack, and there is no suggestion that the wider public are at risk of attack.

"The new Section 60 lasts until 3.45pm on Monday and covers the above areas of the Grange Estate, Fishwick, Deepdale and St Matthew's with the addition of the Plungington area.

"The area of the Section 60 is shown on the attached map.

"The Section 60 is an extremely valuable tool to allow us to work proactively to target offenders and those carrying weapons in our community.

"We want to reassure the entire Preston community that we take these incidents extremely seriously and are dedicated to keeping you safe, as well as identifying and apprehending the perpetrators of crime."

Police say that additional resources such as extra patrols will continue to be utilised to protect and safeguard the community.