Police swoop to disperse crowd of 200 revellers at illegal rave under railway line
Cops close down raucous party after throngs of people spill onto tracks near Bath, Somerset
POLICE in Somerset have swooped to close down an illegal rave underneath a railway line.
Around 200 revellers crowded into a cutting underneath the main line between Bristol and Bath at Newton St Loe, near Bath last night.
But as more and more arrived the throngs of partygoers started to spill out onto the tracks themselves.
After learning of the dangerous situation that was unfolding following a tip-off from the local community, cops launched an operation to shut down the bash.
But the location of the raucous party, along with the pouring rain and difficulty of accessing the site complicated the situation.
And with hundreds of officers already deployed to nearby Glastonbury festival, their efforts were further hampered by a lack of available personnel.
However, Avon and Somerset Police were able to secure the site by 5am, serving a closure notice on the organisers.
The sound system was seized and by 6am the crowd had been safely dispersed and the site cleared.
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Superintendent Chris Weigold, of Avon and Somerset Police, said: “We are grateful to the local community for their support in identifying both events at an early stage so that we could take direct action.
“It is always challenging to manage large numbers of people in the dark, in the rain and in the mud especially near railway lines or close to the seashore but on this occasion we were able to act swiftly on the information provided by residents, to stop the disturbance promptly.
“Such incidents have to be judged on the specific circumstances at the time and even though we had a large presence of officers at the festival in Glastonbury, we were able to bring together appropriate resources – including colleagues from British Transport Police – to stop the disturbance and direct those present to leave.
“The seized equipment will allow the opportunity for enforcement action to be progressed against the organisers.”
On the same evening another rave was going on in nearby South Gloucestershire.
Around 60 people were partying in Oldbury-on-Severn after the event was advertised on social media and cops there were forced to take similar action, seizing the sound system and clearing the site by 5.10am.
Last night’s events came barely a week after nine officers were injured as they shut down a rave in London.
A horde of 2,000 revellers launched missiles at police in riot gear outside the event in Barking as a helicopter circled above.
The unrest took several hours to quell, with nearby roads remaining closed for much of the following day.
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