Revellers clash with police at illegal forest rave
THOUSANDS of revellers gathered at illegal raves across the bank holiday weekend in brazen disregard for coronavirus rules.
Police in England used tougher powers brought in on Friday to fine at least eight people £10,000 as all-night parties were broken up in Norfolk, Leeds and South Wales.
South Wales Police estimated up to 3,000 people travelled to an event in the village of Banwen near the Brecon Beacons.
Resident Jill Molen told the BBC: ‘ We couldn’t sleep at all, people peeing in the street and taking drugs, screaming and shouting. The noise was there all the time. It was a constant beat and banging.
‘It was horrendous. We’ve all been really good with social distancing and Covid and this just wrecks it.’
More than 500 people attended a rave yesterday in Thetford Forest near Grimes Graves, a prehistoric flint mine and English Heritage site in Norfolk.
Officers dealt with hundreds of reports of illegal gatherings from members of the public and confiscated sound systems before they were able to go ahead. In Leeds, two DJs were fined £10,000 and had their music equipment seized, police said.
Despite the crackdown, forces reported huge numbers of people drove across the UK to illegal raves in forests, rural villages and even near English Heritage sites. Police chiefs say the legislation brought in on Friday needed to be clearer, arguing that confusion over the guidelines was being used by some revellers as an ‘excuse’ to break the rules.
Home Secretary Priti Patel defended the new rules, saying they represented a crackdown on ‘the most serious breaches of social distancing restrictions’.
She told The Daily Telegraph: ‘We will not allow this breathtakingly selfish behaviour from a senseless minority to jeopardise the progress we have made together.’
West Midlands Police said it had dealt with about 90 reports from the public about possible breaches of restrictions by yesterday morning. Essex Police said it had seized thousands of pounds’ worth of equipment ahead of an unlicensed music event due to take place in Harlow on Saturday.
West Yorkshire Police seized what they believe to be about £20,000 of music equipment from a garden at an address in the Chapeltown area of Leeds yesterday.
South Wales Police said the illegal rave in Banwen was the biggest they had seen to date. Jamie Bowen, who lives 14 miles away in the village of Resolven, said he could hear ‘really loud music’ from 3am.
He added: ‘There must have been loads of complaints, as it is up in the mountain area, so the sound travels down.
‘It wasn’t in-your-face sort of music, but you could still hear it from a great distance.’