Police warning over future raves
A warning about illegal raves has been made ahead of the bank holiday weekend by police who broke up “one of the largest raves in the UK since the 90s”.
Around 250 officers had to break up the rave in Monmouthshire’s Wentwood Forest over the Easter weekend in April.
More than 3,000 people were at the site with around 1,000 vehicles – 13 of which were seized along with £100,000 of music equipment, drugs and weapons.
Gwent Police said people attending raves were putting themselves at risk.
The force said that five people were arrested on the day of the rave. Since then two have been convicted of drugs offences and four others charged with failing the leave the site of the rave and traffic offences.
It said inquiries are continuing with 19 people for offences including drugs, violent disorder and failing to leave the scene of a rave.
Superintendent Jon Burley said: “We believe that this is one of the largest raves that has occurred in the UK since the 1990s and is one of the largest to be stopped by the police.
“Officers were subjected to extreme hostility and violently attacked with missiles including wine bottles, logs and stones. Fortunately, protective equipment prevented any injuries.”
He warned people considering attending such gatherings in future to be aware of the possible hazards they could face.
“These events are unregulated and there is evidence of dangerous drug taking on a wide scale in what appears to be an organised fashion,” he said.
“People attending raves are putting themselves at risk – there is a lack of planning by the organisers and much resistance to the authorities.
“There is no support in terms of medical attention, and no regard has been given to emergency service access.
“There were no toilet facilities at the rave in Wentwood Forest meaning human waste from 3,000 people being left behind.
“Some rubbish was bagged up and left at the site leaving it open for wild animals to tear apart causing a serious health and safety risk to all those involved in the clean-up operation.”
Fire damage
He said that worse damage had been done to the ancient woodland following the rave.
“A fire also occurred near the site of the rave causing major long term damage and barbeques were abandoned and left in the woods, which potentially could have caused further serious fires,” he said.
“Agreements for hire of equipment and vehicles were for a week long period and had we not intervened the rave might have gone on for a lot longer, causing a much bigger disturbance for the local and wider community.”
He added that processes for dealing with raves before and after had been refined with intelligence being shared with other forces.
And called for residents who were affected by the rave and willing to make a statement to contact police within the next seven days.
