Bristol police insist they’re not “stopping people having fun” after shutting down skatepark rave

Bristol police have insisted that they weren’t attempting to “stop people having fun" after shutting down an illegal rave at a skatepark in Eastville over the weekend.

The unlicensed event began on Saturday, October 25, at a skatepark near the M32. Police said they received numerous calls from locals about music being played at an “antisocial volume”, causing “detrimental impact” on nearby residents.

After arriving at the scene, police discovered between 200 and 250 people in attendance at the illegal rave, where they then made an "operational decision” to close down the event.

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Insp Gavin O'Reilly said the decision was not made to curb people’s fun, but argued that it "crosses the line and becomes antisocial when the volume of the music is so loud that it's impacting on the wellbeing of the local community.”

“Due to the impact on the local community and concerns that the size of the event could increase further, [we had to] issue a direction to leave," he said (via BBC).

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“Taking preventative and proactive action against unlicensed music events is absolutely not about stopping people having fun – there is nothing wrong with that whatsoever.”

Insp O'Reilly also said that “positive engagement” with crowds and organisers meant that the event was shut down and music was turned off after the police’s arrival at around 7:PM.

One person was arrested on the scene on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs, police also confirmed.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Associate Digital Editor, follow her on Twitter