Before the second lockdown begins in England on Thursday, a spate of illegal raves was shut down all across the country on Saturday night as people tried to party on the last weekend.
Groups of people became aggressive and wild as Avon and Somerset Police have shown up to seize equipment and spread apart the crowds, along with about 500 people found in a warehouse holding a rave.
As soon as the revelers became violent, the police used rave legislation to force people to leave the location or face arrest.
The incident was clarified on the police force’s Twitter account, where they wrote that shortly after 10:30 PM, they were alerted to an illegal rave taking place in a warehouse in Yate; officers are on the scene.point 178 | In the post, they also added that a drone unit was also involved in the operation to disperse the crowds; at first, they reported 250 people being in attendance but corrected it to 400-500.point 334 |
They also mentioned that people have been violent towards officers and so rave legislation has been used, which means that people should leave the area, or will be liable to arrest.point 151 | point 151 | 1
In the meantime, in Wigan, Greater Manchester announced that a large rave took place there last night regardless of that the area is in Tier 3 lockdown. The report confirmed around 300 people that gathered in an area of land west of the town’s Rindle Road and north of Astley Road.
There were two arrests at the incident, though seven police vehicles had their tires slashed.
Rob Potts, Assistant Chief Constable, said that this event was an unacceptable and an obvious disregard of not only restrictions for COVID-19 and the safety of others but also the safety of those present as we saw serious examples over the summer period of the dangers affected by being there at such events.
Potts continued, in addition to being illegal, these events are not safe, and the fact a machete was found from the site of this event is disturbing, however an important reminder that this very much remains the case.
Furthermore, according to eyewitnesses, a large gathering at a Sussex University campus was also broken up on Saturday night.