TWO teenage girls were seen ripping clumps of hair from each other’s scalps in a scrap that drew a baying crowd of around 100 pupils last week.

In what onlookers described as “chaos,” the Sanders Drapers schoolgirls punched, kicked and screamed at each other outside shops in Station Lane, Hornchurch, last Friday afternoon.

Fellow pupils dressed in full uniform gathered around the girls, reportedly cheering them on just metres from teachers.

Shopkeepers and passersby managed to pull the girls apart but were soon hurled with verbal abuse from the surrounding youngsters.

Hairdresser Denise, from nearby Dunes & Hairzone Hair Salons told the Recorder: “This little girl with dark hair was ripping the other girl’s hair out by the root.

“There were about 100 kids outside all screaming and shouting and cheering them on. It was disgusting, I couldn’t believe it.

“I ran in between them and tried to stop it. Another guy who was passing by in his car also came out to help.

“There was a male teacher there and he didn’t do anything. He said he wasn’t allowed to do anything.”

She added: “After we got them apart the girl went to hit the other girl again.

“The girl came back later and was very threatening to me, making rude gestures.”

Denise called the police, but when they arrived 10 minutes later the crowd had dispersed.

Resident Robert Lee, who helped break up the fight, said it was “a sad day for Hornchurch and Sanders Drapers School.”

He added: “It took myself and couple of shopkeepers to break the fight up and hold the two girls apart, while the rest of the crowd of school children shouted on.

“Then two teachers from the school arrived they still carried on hanging around in groups using foul language to any one walking past.”

Onlooker Brian, a casual worker at nearby Angel Mobility, said: “There must have been at least 100 kids, it was like a nest of kids, you couldn’t see the fight in the middle.

“They were all jumping up and down and egging each other on. Two male teachers were there and they did their best to try and break it up but it was a big crowd.”

A police spokesman said the children had already dispersed when they arrived. They have since spoken to staff at the school and helped put fighting deterrents in place.