A man has been taken to hospital with head injuries after he was assaulted in Ripon Street this evening.

The incident was the latest in a series of incidents which triggered increased stop and search powers in the Moor Park area.

Police cars, ambulances and forensics were at the scene after reports of an altercation involving two or three men close to the junction with Cambridge Street.

A police spokesman said there had been “a coming together of a number of males” which resulted in one man being taken to hospital.

Officers are now in the area trying to establish what happened but it is understood a weapon may have been involved.

The man has been taken to Royal Preston Hospital but his injuries are not thought to be serious.

A section 60 order was in force in the area over the weekend after an incident in St Thomas’s Road in which a group of men chased a man in a car, resulting in one man being taken to hospital.

Read more: Police confirm St Thomas’s Road incident which triggered stop and search

Following tonight’s violence the order has been put back into place – although police can not yet say whether the incidents are linked.

A police spokesman said: “As a result of this evening’s disorder and other recent incidents we have put an order in place to make sure it is a safe environment for law abiding members of the community.”