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A gang thug threw a bottle at a pregnant woman's face and then said "I'll cut the baby out of you and chop it up" after she tried to stop him mugging a young boy.

Up to 100 marauding thugs terrorised youngsters, mugging two young boys, beating up several others during a planned rampage last week.

The incidents unfolded over an three-and-a-half hour period on Wednesday night in Portmarnock and neighbouring Malahide, with one boy being attacked as young children were trick-or-treating just metres away.

On a night of mayhem in the north Dublin seaside towns, several youngsters were attacked in terrifying incidents which included:

A boy having his jacket and phone robbed at Malahide Train Station

Two boys being attacked and one mugged at Portmarnock Village

Several people complaining that they had had to run after youths demanded their phones

Another young man whose jeans and runners were stolen by gangs

A car being surrounded by gang members near Portmarnock beach

Two schoolboys were walking though Portmarnock village near Lidl on their way back from a pal's house when they were approached by a group of teens who demanded their phones and money.

The gang threatened the youngsters, who are aged 12 and 13, before chasing them.

One boy ran to nearby Strandmill Avenue, where the thugs caught him, beat him up and robbed his X Box controller from his backpack, as well as some money and a leap card.

Meanwhile, more thugs surrounded the youngster's pal across the road on Golf Links Road, knocking him to the ground and kicking him as he lay on the ground demanding his phone.

A brave young mum to be who saw what was happening came over to tell them to stop, but they then turned on her, with one yob shouting: “I’ll cut the baby out of you and chop it up in front of you."

The 30-year-old, who asked not to be named, said: “I couldn’t believe it. It was disgusting. I'd never seen anything like this before. They rampaged through Portmarnock that night.

"I was out with my sister and we were taking my five-year-old niece and her little pal trick-or-treating.

"We heard this scuffle going on across the road on the green near Strandmill and up on the embankment by the estuary. At first we just thought it was a bunch of young lads messing, it being Halloween and all.

"But as we got closer we could see there were packs of big lads. Two of three big guys were beating up one young boy who was on the ground, and another young lad was surrounded by a gang of around twenty lads who were taking turns to hit him.

"The boy who was on the ground had a backpack and they were trying to pull it off him. And then I could hear the other young boy crying and saying 'They robbed me'.

"That's when I ran over to tell them to stop, thinking that once they heard a grown woman's voice they might just run away.

"They didn't though - they just came at me, with one lad waving a bottle at me like he was going to hit me with it. My sister shouted at them 'Don't touch her, she's seven months pregnant.

"But the lad with the bottle just threw it at my head. I was afraid he was going to punch my stomach, so I told him again that I was pregnant and not to touch me.

"He didn't care one bit. He just said 'I'll cut your baby out of you and chop it up in front of me.' At that stage I started to worry that he'd punch my stomach.

"It was disgusting. One of his mates thankfully came and pulled him away, and then he said repeatedly, 'you're just giving us hassle because we're black'.

"I couldn't believe it - I said, 'I don't give a s*** what colour you are, I'm giving you hassle because you're beating up two defenceless little boys - it's that simple'.

“They then moved off and headed up toward the top of Portmarnock, and we learned afterwards from the gardai that they caused carnage wherever they went.

"We met a girl in the village a short while later who told us she'd just been mugged. The two young boys ended up losing some money, an X-Box controller and a leap card.

"We called their parents to tell them what had happened and waited with them back up at the Lidl until they arrived. The poor lads were distraught."

A garda spokesperson told Dublin Live: "Gardai are investigating the robbery of a person at 7:30pm on October the 31st on Strandmill Avenue, Portmarnock."

A source told Dublin Live that gangs of youths from Balbriggan in north county Dublin organised to meet up in Portmarnock on Halloween night because it doesn’t have a garda station.

He added: “These young men are ruthless and reasonably well organised. They seem to model themselves on street gangs like you'd see in Los Angeles.

"They knew that the gardai would be busy and that their focus would be elsewhere, so they targeted Portmarnock knowing that it would be a relatively easy target for anti-social behaviour.

“They use social media to organise their meet-ups and plan their attacks, and then use the train line to get to wherever the action is."

Several locals told how the gangs used the Dart line and social media to organise their rampage, even bragging to their victims and on social media about how easy it is to organise “posh-bashing” sprees in Portmarnock and nearby Malahide.

One Portmarnock local told Dublin Live: “My elderly father was waiting for a bus at Sutton Station on Wednesday evening when a gang of teens who were also at the station suddenly became excited. They were reading out messages on their phones and saying ‘It’s all happening in Portmarnock, let’s get there now’.”

Gardai were called after the young lads were mugged, and one youth was arrested after several scuffles between teens near the beach shelters on Portmarnock beach and just up the road towards the local Dunne's Stores.

The mum to be said that after her ordeal, she waited with the young boys who'd been mugged until their parents arrived. She also called her brother to warn him because his children were out trick or treating.

She continued: "Me and my sister called my brother and told him to be careful because we were afraid the gangs were heading in the direction where he was bringing his two older kids trick-or-treating.

"He was furious when he heard what had happened to me, and bear in mind that we were minding his own five-year-old daughter - my niece - when it happened, so the poor girl saw everything.

"She actually said to me later on after I'd spoken to the gardai, that she was worried, and asked me, 'Is that man going to come back and take your baby'."

The woman's brother told Dublin Live the scene was like nothing he'd ever seen.

He said: "We were down outside Spar near the shelters when at least 40 guys came up towards us. I was obviously raging when I heard what had happened and I went after them, but I'd no idea there were so many.

"But there was nothing you could do with this gang - there were so many of them, it was like a scene from a zombie movie.

"They just kept coming. I was in my jeep, and they tried to surround it and one lad opened the front door. At that point I had to drive off - if I hadn't, I've no doubt they'd have pulled me out and made off with it.

"The crazy thing was - some of them they had headsets on. I could hear them telling others where to come and meet them.

"At once point there was a gang up at Dunnes, another down near the beach and another gang causing mayhem down in the village."

A short time later, a gang of around 20 teens were seen by several people being escorted through Portmarnock to the local train Station by gardai from the Public Order Unit.

One youth was arrested after scuffles between the two gangs near the shelters at Portmarnock beach.

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It's understood that the Xbox controller that had been stolen from the youngster at Strandmill Avenue was recovered.

A garda spokesperson told Dublin Live: "Gardai were called to a large public order incident in Portmarnock at 9pm on Wendall Avenue at which one youth was arrested."

In relation to the incident at Malahide train station later that night, they added: "Gardaí are investigating a report of a robbery from a person which occurred on a train in Malahide on the 31 Oct 2018 at approximately 10.30pm.

"A youth was approached by a group of youths who demanded his phone. No injuries were reported and investigations are ongoing."