A rave of 3,000 took place near Charmy Down RAF airfield near Bath, England on the evening of July 17th, 2020 despite COVID-19 restrictions. Authorities said they were unable to break up a gathering of that size on short notice.
Avon and Somerset police reported arriving onsite within minutes of being alerted to it and finding that “many, many” attendees had already shown up, according to BBC. They said they had been notified that a rave would take place but were unable to determine a specific location. Residents as far as Bristol complained of not being able to sleep due to the noise.
“It became impossible for us to do anything… because of the safety of those partygoers, many of whom were drunk, many of whom were on drugs, and the safety of the officers attending,” said Chief Superintendant Ian Wylie. “We don’t have a standing army waiting to deal with these issues.”
Wylie said that officials planned to investigate the event further. “This is just, frankly, selfish actions of individuals who seemed determined to ignore the COVID-19 legislation, and all of the health advice that has been widely publicized,” he said.
Image credit: Dawid Labno
