POLICE: WE WILL CRACK DOWN ON RAVES
MAYOR IN PLEA TO PARENTS AND KIDS AHEAD OF WEEKEND
GREATER Manchester Police are increasing patrols to stop more illegal raves happening this weekend.
They have picked up intelligence that ‘organised criminals’ are planning to hold more raves at as-yet unnamed locations in Greater Manchester and, backed by the mayor Andy Burnham, have appealed to the public to provide the information to help officers stop them and pleaded with parents to prevent their children going.
Mr Burnham said ‘more could have been done’ by the force to stop one of last weekend’s two illegal raves, a criticism which has been accepted by GMP bosses.
Some 4,000 people attended one rave in a field near Daisy Nook Country Park, Failsworth, where a man, 20, died of a suspected drug overdose, while up to 2,000 others went to another at a brownfield site in Carrington, Trafford, where three people were stabbed and woman was raped on Saturday night.
The Carrington event was described as ‘wild’ by senior police – video footage showed youths fighting with machetes.
Police stopped a third rave in Hattersley but believe it simply moved to Daisy Nook. Police sent officers, including on horseback, to snuff out the Daisy Nook event a few hours before it started following a tip-off but they could not find the organisers in the 100-acre park. When they returned that night, officers decided to allow it to continue because they believed it would have been more dangerous to try and stop it as the numbers had swelled to 4,000.
Police say ‘organised criminals’ are behind the raves where people may have been charged a £10 entrance fee and where illegal drugs may have been traded. Mr Burnham said he had asked Chief Constable Ian Hopkins to set up an action plan to prevent future illegal raves.
Assistant Chief Constable Nick Bailey admitted ‘a far more coordinated partnership approach’ was required and promised to ‘respond more robustly’ this weekend and beyond. He blamed organised criminals who were ‘putting a lot of people’s lives and safety at risk.’
Mr Burnham added: “To the young people who may be thinking of going to these events, I understand how frustrating lockdown may have been to you. But if you are going you are putting yourselves at serious risk of harm and more than that you are putting your families’ lives at risk from infection. Please think about that.
“To parents, we have all got our jobs to do to make sure where our young people are. There’s no excuse whatsoever for parents to be dropping people off at events as we saw last weekend. To adults who attend, your action is completely irresponsible and you will face action in the form of fixed penalty notices or something much more severe.”