Crime fears persuade police to ban reggae festival

A REGGAE festival was banned after police warned it could attract crime.

Love Peace & Reggae took place last weekend in Dover, but tickets were originally sold for a local rugby venue in Whitstable, until police rejected the licence because there “was a risk of crime and disorder”.

Kent police’s licensing officer also raised concerns about the number of fast food restaurants located nearby “which would attract teenagers” and that the event’s proposed security was “woefully inadequate”.

The rejection forced the festival’s organiser, Sherif Amin, 56, to find a new venue two months before hundreds of people were expected to attend.

He suggested that the decision was “racist” because the genre of music was reggae. However, the official council licensing rejection documents do not support that claim.

Mr Amin said: “What trouble do they think they are really going to get at a small festival like ours?”

He added: “This is Kent! Where people bring tea and cakes along, not anything dangerous.”

Mr Amin described last weekend’s festival, which eventually took place at Chill Farm Cottage in Dover, as “a disaster”, as only 100 people turned up when they were expecting 400.

All ticket holders for the first venue, many of whom had booked accommodation, were reimbursed the full price of their ticket, according to Mr Amin.