Council-owned flower planters lining the railings along the seafront were vandalised and the beach was strewn with litter, including broken glass and empty tins. Council workers spent much of Monday morning cleaning the area.

The flower tubs, which were bolted to railings, were upended and overturned during the incident, which happened in the early hours of Sunday morning. The cost of replacing the decorative tubs and the plants is likely to exceed £1,000, a council spokeswoman said.

According to several reports from residents in the village a group of youths staged a noisy drinking party on the beach on Saturday night.
Many of them, one resident said, appeared to be underage. Several cars screeched through the village, he said, a fire was lit on the beach and noise, drinking and foul language continued until around 3.30am.

The resident said the scene was punctuated by "oafish drunken bellowing" and "shrill female screams," adding: "On Sunday morning the evidence of this orgy of drunkenness was all around. For about 50 yards the beach was littered with broken bottles, broken glasses and razor sharp shards of glass half buried in the sand where children play.

"More than 100 empty cans containing high alcohol lager and cider were scattered about the sand. It would be in the interest of all concerned if their parents would make an effort to get them under control."

The resident, who asked to remain anonymous, also questioned why the PSNI failed to respond until the early hours of Sunday morning.
Larne Mayor, Councillor Bobby McKee, roundly condemned the actions of those involved.

Cllr McKee said: "This mindless vandalism is a shameful disgrace. Our Parks Department put a great deal of effort and resources into making the borough an attractive place to live, work and visit, and particularly at this time of year when we have so many visitors, the popular floral displays enhance our tourist offering."

A PSNI spokesman said that police were alerted to the incident around 6.30am on Sunday morning.

A total of 22 flower pots were overturned, the spokesman said.
Responding to one resident's claim that the police were slow to act, the spokesman said no reports of drinking on the beach were received and the vandalism was not reported until 6.39am. At that time a patrol car attended within 15 minutes, he said.

A 19-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage in connection with an incident in Ballygally on Sunday. He was released pending further enquiries, according to the PSNI.