Police used CS spray at rave
March 31, 2004 07:19
Norfolk police last night admitted using CS gas to disperse revellers during the break-up of an illegal rave at a disused warehouse near Norwich airport.
Chief Insp Nick Dean, the officer in charge of the operation, said CS gas was deployed after around 100 youths had hurled bottles and displayed “severe aggression” towards officers, who had descended on the vacant premises off Hurricane Way on the Airport Industrial Estate early on Sunday.
The only person taken to hospital during the 12-hour operation was a police officer, who suffered a broken hand, although other officers were “physically attacked” during scuffles with a hardcore group who barricaded themselves in, he said.
But ravers accused officers of using excessive force and said CS gas had been sprayed into the building from the outset, affecting many of those who had been dancing to the music inside.
Police had also beaten people with batons, leaving many with bruises to their arms and legs and one girl with a broken arm. One eye-witness said he had seen officers smashing the windows of a vehicle at the premises and using batons on the occupants.
Darren Keaton, 20, from Norwich, said: “I was right at the back of the room and I could feel the fumes burning in the back of my mouth.
There were about eight officers in a row who were using the spray.
“A 16-year-old girl was smashed in the face and her whole top was covered in blood. Some officers saw her being carried out past them and moved to one side to let the other ravers come in, I think because they realised they had done wrong. And all this was at the beginning.”
Harry Samkin, 18, said he had also witnessed the use of CS spray.
“I was right at the other end, so it must have been sprayed throughout the whole place. I could feel it in my throat.”
Chief Insp Dean, of Norwich police, confirmed that CS gas had been dispersed at the very earliest stages of the operation, but he could not say whether it had been used in the warehouse.
The decision had been taken in the face of bottles being thrown at officers and “severe aggression” from 100 or so revellers, and because it was considered one of the only options available to officers to ensure their safety.
“The initial assessment made, having been faced with such aggression, was that we would try to communicate with the people inside the building and move them, warning that they were committing an offence and we were going to require them to leave,” he said.
“In fairness, a number of people did leave the premises with no problems whatsoever. However, things escalated when the occupants came out and tried to move various vehicles from around the premises which we had a legal right to seize.
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