Police officer hurt in festival skirmish

Maxwell Kusi Obodum • Published 30 Aug 2010 13:00 0 Comments

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A POLICE officer suffered head injuries after being struck by a missile in a "sporadic" outbreak of violence on the Reading Festival's closing night.

The attack broke out between midnight and 4am today as scores of police patrolled the campsites to try and prevent last year's scenes of mayhem when rowdy revellers went on the rampage, burning tents and intimidating innocent festivalgoers.

Officers wearing full riot gear moved in to restore order and the injured constable, who had not had a chance to put on his protective helmet, was taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital and treated for mild concussion but later released.

But Chief Inspector Les Stone stressed behaviour had dramatically improved compared to last year and said: "Unfortunately there was some disorder last night, but it was nowhere near to the scale we experienced last year. The disorder that we did suffer was sporadic, localised and was dealt with swiftly by police and the security teams. Control was restored quickly and officers were able to remove their head protection."

He added: "The final night does have something of a reputation for a minority of festivalgoers causing disorder, but this year we had more resources and we are content with how the operation went. Several members of the public have approached our officers this morning and thanked them for the way we controlled the final night."

Their were further scuffles throughout the night, including in the Purple Camping zone and officers also moved swiftly to snuff out campfires after new rules stipulating they should be extinguished after 8pm.

Meanwhile, overall crime was down on last year's event, with 343 reported incidents compared to 350 a year ago, despite a steep rise in the first few nights.

Ch Insp Stone added: "Last year we received a large number of late reports of crimes once people got home, but we are hopeful that we will not experience that late reporting in the same numbers this year as we had a police station, in a very prominent part of the site, where people could report crime throughout the event.

"Offences of robbery are significantly down on last year's figures as are thefts from motor vehicles. It is also pleasing to note that there have not been any serious assaults."

Did you witness any outbreaks of violence the final night of the festival? Comment below or contact mkusiobodum@berksmedia.co.uk

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