Christmas elves attacked during lighting ceremony in London

FORMBY, England, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Entertainers dressed as Christmas elves were attacked by a group of teenagers during a Christmas lighting ceremony in England.

The group of performers, which included a 13-year-old, were cursed at and assaulted by a group of 15 teenagers during a ceremony in Formby on Sunday.

Reports said that the performers had their hats stolen and one of the elves was punched, while a pellet gun was held to another elf's head.

"It started off with these teenagers trying to take their hats or telling the children they are not real elves," Jan Hayes, the group's manager, told BBC. "Later on, a gang of about 20 cornered our group and one member was punched in the stomach as they were abused."

Hayes also expressed that the incident may prevent the group from performing in the town in the future.

"It was a very traumatic experience," she said. "We may not return to Formby nest year."

Despite the trauma of the incident, the group's parent company Starkidz Entertainment posted an encouraging message to their Facebook page.

"As you may have heard, our lovely elves were a little bit beaten and shaken on Sunday night," it read. "But you can't hold a good elf down, we are putting some names on our naughty list and raring to go for our festive shenanigans!"