Police tackle 3000 bank holiday ravers in Wales

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Police tackle 3000 bank holiday ravers in Wales

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April 10, 2007 at 8:21 am

#883291
[deleted]

@[deleted]

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Quote:

POLICE seized 18 vans and lorries containing a large amount of audio equipment from Gwent’s biggest ever rave. An estimated 3,000 ravers descended on Wentwood Forest on Saturday evening, bringing around 1,000 vehicles for the illegal gathering. The last remaining partygoers at the Forestry Commission-owned site were moved on by police at 12.30pm today.

Officers are examining a “considerable amount” of evidence gathered during the operation. A stage with a huge sound system was set up in the Five Lanes area, which pumped out loud music for 36 hours.

Some 175 officers from five different forces – Gwent, South Wales, Gloucestershire, Avon and Somerset and West Mercia – as well as a helicopter were deployed in a huge police operation.

Five males were arrested on Sunday afternoon for allegedly assaulting officers as they moved in to disperse the crowds.
The suspects were remanded in custody overnight and are being interviewed at an undisclosed police station in Gwent today.

Superintendent Jon Burley, who is leading the investigation, said: “We took a robust approach to the policing of the rave, and we will take a robust approach with the handling of the organisers.”

These are some of the comments left on the Welsh news website:

Quote:

Posted by: me, essex on 4:43pm Mon 9 Apr 07

Wicked party! Shame the ob got out of hand

[URL=”http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:void%280%29;”%5D
[/URL]

Posted by: baxter, bourne on 4:45pm Mon 9 Apr 07

was a fat party,good laff scrappin wiv old bil aswell haha

[URL=”http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:void%280%29;”%5D
[/URL]

Posted by: lucus on 5:17pm Mon 9 Apr 07

Party was very good, and well organised, used a spot pretty far away fromhouses etc, police were very heavhanded indeed and probably could have dispersed the party without hitting children and girls. the police seemed very un-organised and didnt seem to know what they were doing. they went about it the wrong way, turning up in riot gear and just hitting people is not a very appropriate way to go about dispersing this type of event in my eyes, if anything the police made the situation very much worse than it could have been. i hope that if something like this ever happens again they use some brains instead of violence.

Posted by: Rave Organiser

who didnt attend this party 🙁 on 5:27pm Mon 9 Apr 07

baxter wrote:

was a fat party,good laff scrappin wiv old bil aswell haha

idiot, fighting police is not big or funny, go to a pub/town for that.. even if they did use out of order approach, we are better than that 🙂

from pics it looked to be a fat fat party roll on the nxt fattie !! AND WE WILL PARTY !!

Posted by: Lise, Cwmbran on 6:03pm Mon 9 Apr 07

What a party! Bring on the next one!

Posted by: Miss T, torfaen on 7:48pm Mon 9 Apr 07

We all love a good party but most of you should be ashamed of youselves. You act like a bunch of slobs leaving rubbish like you did. It is a beautiful place where families go for a leisurely walk and you have spoiled it. PIGS (and i dont meet the police)

Posted by: Farmer Delwyn Giles, My farm land on 7:54pm Mon 9 Apr 07

Keep off my land hooligans…KKKEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPP OOOFFFFFF!!!

Posted by: well done police on 8:44pm Mon 9 Apr 07

Some of you need a good kicking from the police or someone else. I bet you was all druged up to your eyeballs, didnt have no clue to what you was doing or who you was doing it to.

Posted by: Anon, Chepstow on 10:03pm Mon 9 Apr 07

It is really sad that some people think that fighting and disrespecting the Police(And I am not particularly a fan of theirs) is good fun. Get a life and start respecting others and their property.

Posted by: Ant, berks on 10:18pm Mon 9 Apr 07

would you turn up at a massive free party wearing full riot gear and expect to keep the peace…

Posted by: Camera sees all, On top on 11:25pm Mon 9 Apr 07

No need for violence, where is the unity? Partying is one civil liberty that you will never suppress, and to the person that complained about rubbish – this is not a problem if time is given to clean up. If you are being beaten up, it’s really hard to think of the environment. Think of better ways to deal with it, ie communication, rather than getting the truncheons out. Unless you really do not care, which I unpleasantly suspect is the case.
April 10, 2007 at 11:04 am

#883240
6

General Lighting

@general-lighting

Moderator
Staff
got back yesterday evening; the good bits of this were excellent – managed to introduce some of my new friends from the East to my old crew from Reading and SW England…

At some times I wanted to be in three places at once as there were so many people I knew whom I wanted to meet up with, plus the rigs were so far away from the cars..

Its a shame it finished like it did but TBH I think it was inevitable due to the fires and sketchy parking. At first some of the ravers were sceptical that there was any fire but one of my mates who was there said he had seen a bunch of “locals” lighting a large fire.

If there’s one thing that makes Forestry Commission jittery with regard to raves its the risk of fire, and as others mentioned the tracks were blocked in (why is peoples parking getting worse these days?) so the Fire Brigade would have difficulty getting there.

This is plenty enough reason for the Territorial Support Group (riot cops) to be deployed – as their name suggests their job is to retake territory in order to ensure “public safety”, although TBH the extent of the “riot” has been exaggerated.

As Sandals mentioned the extent of the “riot” has been wholly exaggerated, and WTF else would have happened if there are fires?

Many people managed to stay on site until Monday, the heddlu did turn up again but this time the “riot van” turned out to be empty apart from one copper who was actually OK when he realised that we would be going back to England soon…

Its a shame about the rigs but sadly I think its getting to the stage where really and truly parties should go back to being smaller, friendlier affairs where people mostly know one another and therefore tend to behave better in a group, otherwise this sort of thing is going to keep happening… we’ve had our time with large moots that were actually fun but I don’t think the large events work any more, people are too sketchy now to organise them (too much ketamine?)
April 10, 2007 at 11:27 am

#883262
1

happyacid

@happyacid

Member
$erial-Thrilla wrote:

I went to this party. Came back yesterday. travelled all the way from Ipswich! Its a damn shame they shut it down i was having a wicked night. Met loads of people.

I remember being told about the fire. I was told it wasn’t anyone there for the party. Apparently it was just people that came down from bristol to cause a nusence…but dont quote me on that, it was just what i heard.

I have Party Withdrawl. I dont get to go to them much. No car 🙁

Anyone that went remember talking to us guys from Ipswich? 🙂

yeah i talked to a few people from ipswich i think, at least a few from suffolk and near ipswich, seemed safe enough. that was a sick party though :crazy:
April 10, 2007 at 11:59 am

#883266
1

Raj

@raj

Member
The road blocking issue is a catch 22 situation.

If you assign people to steward the roads for everyone’s safety to ensure emergency vehicle access will they get busted as organisers?

I personally think there shoould always be stewards for keeping clear emergency vehicle access onto the site. Imagine the disaster if someone had collapsed 3 miles from the ambulance and needed the ressus equipment on it? by the time the ambulance staff got to them they might well have been dead.

The problem is that the same routes kept clear for emergency aid workers can be used by police to get to the rigs fast….

Where do we go from here?
April 10, 2007 at 12:35 pm

#883241
6

General Lighting

@general-lighting

Moderator
Staff
Raj wrote:

The road blocking issue is a catch 22 situation.
If you assign people to steward the roads for everyone’s safety to ensure emergency vehicle access will they get busted as organisers?

outdoor rave sites are often shared with random other people such as horseriders, cyclists and dirt bike riders, and its very difficult to prove that someone is an organiser unless they are caught with equipment (which is why cops try and seize it if they can).

It would be easy for anyone to argue that they were just being public spirited and trying to help horses / cycles / motor bikes get through safely).

Quote:

I personally think there shoould always be stewards for keeping clear emergency vehicle access onto the site. Imagine the disaster if someone had collapsed 3 miles from the ambulance and needed the ressus equipment on it? by the time the ambulance staff got to them they might well have been dead.

there was a situation at an East Anglia party where someone sustained a nasty injury falling off a hay stack, and Ambulance could not reach him at first due to bad parking.

In the end some of the lads from the crew actually assisted the paramedics to carry equipment on foot to the casualty (I think the two paramedics took the stretcher and they carried bags of other equipment) (thankfully the casualy did not have life-threatening injuries and is currently recovering in hospital).

Quote:

The problem is that the same routes kept clear for emergency aid workers can be used by police to get to the rigs fast….

OTOH I think TSG are trained to get past barricades caused by vehicles so any blocks may mean its more likely rather than less likely for riot cops to get sent in.

Where do we go from here?[/quote]

putting on parties where there are less situations that require them to be there in the first place?
April 10, 2007 at 12:43 pm

#883315
1

danielb92

@danielb92

Member
Did they seize all the equipment then?

Officers seized 10 large trucks containing powerful sound equipment.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/6538379.stm
April 10, 2007 at 12:46 pm

#883292
[deleted]

@[deleted]

Inactive
http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/mostpopular.var.1315487.mostviewed.huge_rave_in_gwent_forest.php

Well this is a website for welsh news papers, just been reading the comments left on here by the readers.

some of the locals seem really pissed about the rave been interesting to read what their views on this are
April 10, 2007 at 12:52 pm

#883242
6

General Lighting

@general-lighting

Moderator
Staff
some of the locals seem really pissed about the rave been interesting to read what their views on this are

apparently the wood was quite near a village, plus some bits of it are ancient woodland/wildlife havens..
April 10, 2007 at 1:02 pm

#883293
[deleted]

@[deleted]

Inactive
General Lighting wrote:

apparently the wood was quite near a village, plus some bits of it are ancient woodland/wildlife havens..

Yeah i hadn’t noticed the village! i did go walking a around a lot on missions when i was wasted, i went quite far and hadnt seen any houses. Maybe i was oblivious to it! 😉
April 10, 2007 at 1:38 pm

#883285
1

Kensaken

@kensaken

Member
When we were leaving we did see a couple of houses on the outskirts of the forest, but i think i remember seeing a group of people i had seen around the party a couple of times entering one of the houses, so i cant see them complaining.

Also, the people i was with said that theyd been to one or two parties in that forest before (although in different parts apparently), so surely some of the locals must not be that surprised(admittedly this party was much bigger than any that had been there before).

I definately think that people organising parking is a good idea. There is no way that any emergency services should have to get through all those cars to help someone, risking more police action is definately worth it if someone has life threatening injuries and an ambulance must get to them.
April 10, 2007 at 1:59 pm

#883270
1

So not a good look

@so-not-a-good-look

Member
Quote-And I am a great believer in that if someone wants to listen to music use headphones because I sure as heck don’t wish to listen to it.-quote

:laugh_at::laugh_at::laugh_at::laugh_at:Is that just dance music (or Heaven forbid ALL Music) If its the latter thats one sad individual Im quoting here:crazy::crazy:
April 10, 2007 at 2:37 pm

#883265
1

stax

@stax

Member
GoodDoG wrote:

Quote-And I am a great believer in that if someone wants to listen to music use headphones because I sure as heck don’t wish to listen to it.-quote

:laugh_at::laugh_at::laugh_at::laugh_at:Is that just dance music (or Heaven forbid ALL Music) If its the latter thats one sad individual Im quoting here:crazy::crazy:

haha yer laughed at that 1.

and how dare we call our elders, oldies!!! SHOCK HORROR
April 10, 2007 at 2:42 pm

#883243
6

General Lighting

@general-lighting

Moderator
Staff
Kensaken wrote:

When we were leaving we did see a couple of houses on the outskirts of the forest, but i think i remember seeing a group of people i had seen around the party a couple of times entering one of the houses, so i cant see them complaining.
Also, the people i was with said that theyd been to one or two parties in that forest before (although in different parts apparently), so surely some of the locals must not be that surprised(admittedly this party was much bigger than any that had been there before).

I think its a similar situation to other areas of the country, you are going to find many of the younger people and perhaps older “hippy” types would be supportive – but it still only takes one complaint for the cops to at least investigate the situation.

I think though that a combination of bad parking and the fire(s) was what exacerbated things though…

I’ve been to a lot of raves and not seen parking as sketchy as that :you_crazy
April 10, 2007 at 3:10 pm

#883294
[deleted]

@[deleted]

Inactive
General Lighting wrote:

I’ve been to a lot of raves and not seen parking as sketchy as that :you_crazy

Do some people lack brains? As soon as we saw a clearing we dived into it with the car, thought it was a good way to avoid being blocked in!

Oh how wrong we were. Think some others that i bumped into had the right idea, parking right at the beginning to the track and walked down. Was a fair trek TBH but they got out when they wanted.

It is not that hard to park either side of a track and leave enough space for another car to fit down.

Maybe one day they might realise what a pain iin the arse they are! :you_crazy
April 10, 2007 at 6:11 pm

#883263
1

Josie

@josie

Member
Didn’t go to the party on the weekend (wish I did though!), it seems that we are losing our freedom a bit in Cymru with regards to parties etc – does anyone think we pissed on our chips with the UKtek on Bettws Common 2005?

As for the policing of the weekends party, they call in forces from all over the country to sort out a rave (incl helcopter and all!) and there are kids being stabbed and shot left right and centre in London but it’s okay to summon the help of all the other forces to break up a poxie free party and waste taxpayers money… but why aren’t they helping city police with REAL crime such as this so-called “gang-land” problem? My old girl (aged 55 and as straight as they come) was having this debate with my old man this morning – she has sympathy with ravers, bless!

Does anyone else think that the Welsh free-party scene is underthreat?:group_hug
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