Greater Manchester Police have picked up intelligence that ‘organised criminals’ are planning to hold more raves this weekend.
The police force has admitted they could have done more to stop the illegal raves that happened last weekend.
The illegal raves this weekend are at as-yet-unnamed locations in Greater Manchester, however mayor Andy Burnham has appealed to the public for information and to parents to stop their children from going.
The mayor has also admitted that ‘more could have been done’ to stop one of last weekend’s illegal raves by the force.
GMP bosses have accepted this criticism and have now set up a central intelligence-gathering unit, and are planning on making more officers available to tackle any situations this weekend.
Last weekend, 4,000 people attended an illegal rave in Daisy Nook, Failsworth, where a man sadly lost his life due to a suspected drug overdose.
A further 2,000 attended another rave in Carrington, Trafford, where three people were stabbed and a woman was raped.
Police called the Carrington rave ‘wild’ and video footage has emerged of a group of people fighting with machetes.
Police stopped a rave in Hattersley, but believe it moved to Daisy Nook. They also had police officers on horseback before the rave in Daisy Nook but couldn’t find the organisers in the 100-acre park.
When the police returned to Daisy Nook in the evening, they believed it would be too dangerous to try and stop as the numbers had swelled to 4,000.
Police have said that ‘organised criminals’ are behind the illegal raves which charged £10 entrance fee and saw the trading of illegal drugs.
Andy Burnham and the Chief Constable, Ian Hopkins, held a press conference this week and mentioned an action plan was in the works that would prevent further illegal raves.
Police confirm there was very little intelligence surrounding the Carrington rave with police only finding out about it late Saturday. They took the decision to not stop it due to the size and the terrain.
The force saw a 50% spike in 999 calls last Saturday due to Black Lives Matter protests in Bolton that saw counter-protests and turned violent, making it ‘an extremely challenging day’ for the force.
The force has admitted that more could have been done to stop the Daisy Nook rave and intelligence gathering ‘could have been stronger’.
Assistant Chief Constable Nick Bailey has promised to ‘responds more robustly’ this weekend and beyond. He also blamed the criminals for putting ‘a lot of people’s lives and safety at risk’.
Police will be patrolling the ‘risk’ areas this weekend and the operation is being overseen by a force-wide ‘silver command’ of senior officers.
They will be seizing equipment and vehicles from organisers and dishing out fines to any of those who attend.
Mayor Burnham added: “To the young people who may be thinking of going to these events, I understand how frustrating lockdown may have been to you. But if you are going you are putting yourselves at serious risk of harm and more than that you are putting your families’ lives at risk from infection. Please think about that.
“To parents, we have all got our jobs to do to make sure where our young people are. There’s no excuse what-so-ever for parents to be dropping people off at events as we saw last weekend. To adults who attend, your action is completely irresponsible and you will face action in the form of fixed penalty notices or something much more severe.
“To the organisers, there will be an investigation and there will be seized equipment if necessary. There will be criminal proceedings. We will do what we can to disrupt and activities and then ensure you face a criminal prosecution.”
