A YORK policeman was in hospital today after a gang of youths armed with pickaxe handles and bricks caused a night of mayhem on a York estate.

Five youths were arrested after a riot broke out in Chapelfields as up to 20 drunken hooligans attacked cars and property with golf clubs and bottles.

Police are now hunting two more young men who are also believed to have been involved in three hours of lawlessness which began when a recovery lorry arrived to remove a stolen car at about 10.30pm.

Sergeant Colin Ventress, of York Police, said the PC was the first to arrive and is believed to have severed a ligament in his leg as he attempted to arrest one of the culprits.

He said: "This was a serious incident of public disorder. When the first officers arrived on the scene, they were threatened with bricks and pickaxe handles.

"More officers were called and they were confronted by a group of young men and women. Several of the youths were later seen to take refuge in a nearby property where they were later arrested."

He said that it was not known if the disorder was linked to three attacks on buses in the area earlier this week. Services through the estate have been temporarily rerouted.

The mayhem began when residents reported a gang of six men in their late teens or early 20s attacking parked vehicles with golf clubs. A crowd had gathered beside a recovery lorry in Barkston Grove.

When a police patrol arrived they were threatened and goaded by the youths, some of whom were carrying weapons. The officer was injured as he tried to arrest a teenage boy.

A teenage girl, who is thought to have been trying to stop the violence, is also thought to have suffered minor injuries in the scuffle.

More police officers were called, and a stand-off developed after some youths ran into a house in nearby Chapelfields Road. They were later persuaded to come out and five people were arrested.

One Chapelfields resident said the youths, who had been drinking heavily, threw cider bottles at the recovery lorry and at a nearby house, before ripping up fence posts and throwing them too.

He said that the rear window of at least one vehicle was smashed in Barkston Grove and another suffered dents after being struck by a golf club.

A woman resident who witnessed the disorder said: "I have been here for more than eight years and have never had a problem. This is not the sort of thing that you would want to go through again."

Updated: 13:42 Friday, May 14, 2004