Reading Festival descended into chaos on Sunday after reports of tents on fire and disorder, however, it seems social media has become the place for the hard truth about what has happened at the festival. My Wokingham reported several incidents early hours of Monday morning including the unconfirmed arrest of a male with a suspected firearm. Mobile phone footage shows members of the public describing how armed police arrested a person ‘with a gun’ Those who witness the arrest could of course be mistaken see video.
Why Social Media Panic & Police Statements Don’t Tally Up
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhvNaXs1LW4[/embedyt]
Social media reports show numerous people scared for their own safety. Along with reports of several people who alleged that they had been spiked with needles. Reading Festival goers were leaving early yesterday complaining about a lack of security, fights, and arsonists setting fires to tents.
Mobile Phone Footage of Arrest
Still unconfirmed these festival goers clearly feel an arrest was being made due to a firearm.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4luYYM4iBI[/embedyt]
Was Lack of Security the Cause?
Reading Festival goers left early yesterday complaining about a lack of security, fights and arsonists setting fires to tents. pic.twitter.com/IK5LTRjTl5
Wjh— TalkTV (@TalkTV) August 29, 20202
Thames Valley Police Response
We suspect Thames Valley Police would have been overwhelmed with the numbers of reports put out on Twitter concerning the disorder, at the same time not wanting to panic festival goers and parents. Reading tweets from festival goers gives you a sense of real fear being felt by those who went to enjoy themselves. Something clearly has gone wrong and it feels like a major review of security will be required to make people feel safe again.
A spokesperson for Thames Valley Police said,
“There were some fires in the campsite on Sunday, but festival security had water pumps and extinguished these within minutes.
“There was some disorder in the campsite at about 4.30pm on Sunday, but this was dealt with within minutes by festival security and about fifty people were ejected from the site.
“Those ejected were safeguarded by the festival organisers, Thames Valley Police, and British Transport Police to ensure they could get home safely.”
Festival Goers Reveal Genuine Fear
@y1r1ggers “This happens every year, it has only come to light now because of so many social media posts”
@farmerteale “Got a call last night from my son & friends asking to come pick them up early from #readingfestival2022 . They said it was no longer safe being there with tents being set on fire. Such a shame as up until then they had been loving it.Jo50G said: “I called the police from home to get to Reading Festival as my daughter was so scared in purple camp in the middle of this afternoon…they couldn’t get out their tent for missiles being thrown and tents being set alight…shocking behaviour…security should be about surely???”
Becki said: “The bands tonight were incredible but f****** h***, walking through the campsites back to the car seeing people set fire to tents with people in them and no one doing anything?“
Mia tweeted the festival organisers saying: “I think you need to look into the campsite situation and rethink your demographic for next year, because this is not it. The entire crowd vibe was off this year, tents being set on fire, young girls feeling so unsafe they had to leave early etc.”
Responding to a message from organisers urging people to take their tents home, a Twitter user called Emma said: “So much abuse and it was honestly scary in those camps tonight, sort your security team out and your rules, it’s a joke.”
Another, called Rhianna, said she had witnessed two tents burning and mallets and a tent pole being thrown.
Reports of Needle Spiking Not Seen in Media
Several tweets and reports show people subject to apparent needle spiking but at the time of writing not one single mention by Police or organisers
Fear should have no place at a music festival
A man was later arrested after two people were reportedly spiked with a needle at Reading Festival. The alleged incident occurred during a performance by festival headliners, the Arctic Monkeys, on Saturday (August 27)
Police and Reading Festival organizers have a difficult task when crowds of people decide to misbehave, however, security checks and searches should be able to detect and prevent needle spiking. Does this event need police officers to replace security teams? Let’s hope a review is made and improvements implemented so festival goers don’t attend in a state of fear.
