Wireless 2016: Finsbury Park festival to have 'airport-style' metal detectors after last year's violence

Security operation: Guards are seen trying to hold back a mob of gatecrashers in 2015
Tom Marshall4 July 2016
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Metal detectors will be used to crack down on crime at a major London music festival which was marred by violence last year.

The organisers of Wireless are installing airport-style security gates as part of a plan to avoid a repeat of last year's problems.

It comes after locals took legal action in a failed bid to have the urban music festival banned from Finsbury Park, where it is being held this weekend.

Last year, hundreds of gatecrashers stormed the perimeter fence and at least eight people were arrested, including for actual bodily harm and knife possession.

Mobile phone footage showed guards struggling to contain the gatecrashers, while another clip showed a lone police officer attempting to fend off a crowd with a baton.

The increased safety arrangements will also see a bigger team of security guards and stewards patrolling the site and its perimeter, while revellers will undergo full body searches before being allowed through the gates.

Some 50,000 people are expected to attend each day from Friday to Sunday to see the likes of Calvin Harris, Chase & Status and Jess Glynne.

The organisers warned that troublemakers will be “evicted” into the hands of the police and drugs of any kind – including legal highs – will not be tolerated.

The website states: “Wireless Festival have a new pre-agreed eviction policy with the police in place.

“Please note everyone attending the event will be required to pass through airport style metal detectors and undergo body and bag searches as a condition of entry.

“We reserve the right to refuse admittance to any person who refuses to be searched by a steward or other person acting on their behalf.”

As well as citing crime as a worry, they were angry about losing a huge swathe of their local park to the festival at the height of summer, the visual impact of the large gates encircling the site and the potential damage to the grass.

Wireless festival has been approached for a comment.

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