Police say they have stepped up patrols in Henbury in the wake of accusations it is a "no-go" area – but residents say they are afraid to walk the streets at night.

The Avon and Somerset force said that more officers would be in Crow Lane and the surrounding streets after Brazilians Shane Braga and Marcio Toso were left with horrific injuries after being attacked by a gang of youths.

As reported in yesterday's Bristol Post, they were beaten up and robbed in the early hours of Sunday morning after they were overheard speaking in Portuguese.

When the Bristol Post visited Crow Lane on Tuesday night at around 8pm gangs of youths roamed the streets, many carrying alcohol despite appearing to be under age.

Some were play-fighting outside the parade of shops, while a large group congregated at the entrance to the park nearby.

Our reporter did not see any police cars or officers on foot during our visit.

Most of the people the Post spoke to were too afraid to give their names but said there was an ongoing problem with youth intimidation and attacks.

When asked about the incident at the weekend, all named a different violent assault they had heard about during the same period.

Manzia Mohammad, aged 53, from Henbury, said: "There's always been a problem, it's an every day thing.

"Mostly it's young people being rowdy, there have been a couple of occasions of attacking some people.

"It's not very pleasant, I don't tend to feel safe. Recently I've seen a bit of police presence but it doesn't seem they're taking good action."

A 28-year-old man, who said he did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, said: "A couple of days ago a black guy was hit with a bottle in the head, just round the corner.

"It's the youths, aged up to about 22, sometimes they're down by the park or the flats.

"They started on me once, I had 20 of them chasing me and chucking bricks through my window. I called the police but they didn't come out.

The Brazilian friends claim they were told by police the area was a "no-go" zone full of "no-hopers", later denied by a force spokesman.

Incidents have plagued the area recently, despite a state-of-the-art CCTV system in Crow Lane.

Police admitted yesterday that they were dealing with an increased level of anti-social behaviour.

Inspector Mark Jackson said: "Unfortunately we have seen an increase in anti-social behaviour in the Crow Lane area in recent weeks. But we have been doing a lot of work to try to address these issues.

"Officers are progressing with anti-social behaviour orders (ASBO's) for a number of key individuals.

"These ASBOs will have very strict conditions, which will include some individuals being banned from the Crow Lane area completely.

"Robbery in that area is actually down by 40 per cent this year compared to the same period last year.

"Youth workers are engaging with key groups which are contributing towards some of the recent problems, and are developing programmes to divert them to make more constructive and positive use of their time."

Labour's Derek Pickup, city councillor for Henbury, said: "There has been considerable resources concentrated on trying to combat anti-social behaviour in Henbury and Brentry, which has not succeeded in resolving the problem. It is not acceptable that young people should feel that this sort of behaviour is tolerable in today's society."