ANGRY residents have demanded assurances there won’t be any revenge attacks in their neighbourhood after a man was brutally murdered.

Kursaal ward residents fear there will be another attack following the murder of Hassan Mohammed Ibrahim.

They demanded action from police at a meeting last night organised by officers and Kursaal ward councillor Judith McMahon.

One resident asked officers: “Can you assure us there will be no reprisals? We have to live around here.

These people come in from London, but we live here.

Can you guarantee our safety?”

Sgt Gary Lane said police were trying to find out why the men were in Southend.

He added: “We don’t know why they were there. But it has been established that the victim was not living there.

“We are looking at people who aren’t residents in the Kursaal ward and there was no more chance of this happening in York Road than anywhere in Southend.”

Hassan, 26, known as Big Hass, was stabbed twice on Monday, July 7, in York Road, Southend.

He was found slumped unconscious on the steps of a house at the junction of York Road and Old Southend Road at about 7pm. He was flown to the Royal London Hospital, but could not be saved. More than 30 residents attended the meeting last night.

Keith Kelsey, 39, of KilworthAvenue, said: “York Road is not a bad area, but certain people are coming through, trashing it and going off. They have come in, done what they have done and left us with the mess.

Residents have almost accepted it.”

Police said they had taken the unusual step to get special powers to carry out stop and searches on anyone in the area for six days and increased patrols.

Sgt Gary Lane added: “To have stop and search powers in place for six days shows how seriously we are taking this. We have also put in extra resources. This comes on the back of the work we are already doing under Operation Sunshine to have York Road as a priority area for patrols.”

But Will Brentall, 29, of Kilworth Avenue, claimed: “I can’t let my kids play outside because of what’s going on. I have lived here three years and had three attempted break-ins. I was watching television on Monday night and someone was peering through our windows to see if they could break in.”

Other residents claimed they see drug dealing on their streets.