Hooligans intent on disturbing holiday festivities kept Police busy over the weekend after several violent fights broke out between rival groups of youths.

Early Sunday morning the Police Support Unit responded to a disturbance at the Western Stars (Dandy Town) sports club field.

According to a statement released by the Police Service, officers arrived around 2 a.m.

They had to wear protective headgear as the crowd began throwing bottles at them. Two Police officers equipped with shields and batons eventually dispersed the crowd.

Police made three arrests that night. One man was arrested for possessing an offensive weapon and two men were arrested for obstructing officers.

Earlier on Sunday morning, a 20-year-old Smith?s Parish man was assaulted by several youths as he was leaving the same sports club.

Police said the youths pursued the man as he ran away from them, striking him with helmets until he fell to the ground. The victim had to be taken to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for treatment for facial bruising. understands that the club had leased a portion of its field to an outside group for a concert that night. President Cal Blankendal said the concert went off without a hitch until youths began fighting in an outside parking lot after the concert was over. ?A portion of the field close to BELCO was leased out for a concert. I was not there and have no details about what happened,? he said.

He could not recall the official name of the organisation who had leased the field for the night.

And yesterday spectators at the National Stadium?s North Field had their evening Bermuda Day festivities interrupted when a fight broke out between a group of young men.

Spectators had gathered at the field to watch live performances organised by the Department of Tourism starting at 5:30 p.m.

Shortly after the entertainment began several spectators told they witnessed a fight between five youths, who all appeared to be under the age of 20, which broke out shortly after the performances began in the east end of the field.

One spectator said he saw a youth jump the fence in an attempt to get off the field before Police arrived. The man said the group left the area quickly and were not stopped by the handful of Police officers who were nearby.

A Police officer who was standing at the North Field entrance described the fight as a ?minor scuffle? between a group of youths which was not alarming to spectators.

But some families which had settled down on the field to watch the entertainment did not describe the fight as a minor incident.

One man said he watched a youth throw something, but could not identify the object. ?There was no Police presence around the field that we could see and no security inside the field,? he said. ?It?s disappointing that this would happen on Bermuda Day

An employee with the security firm employed for the event, Island Wide Security, said the youths left the field quickly after the fighting broke out. He would not comment on the details of the fight.

As left the premises groups of youths, many who appeared to be under the age of 18, were mingling on the street outside the North Field entrance with open liquor bottles in their hands, unnoticed by Police and security officers at the entrance to the field.

Police spokesman Robin Simmons could not confirm last night if Police officers were at the event for security purposes. A Police paddy wagon was spotted making its way to the stadium after the fight broke out.