As coronavirus lockdown measures are eased across the country, it has been warned that England could experience a wave of illegal raves over the summer. Tara Pilkington reports.
Thousands of people attended two raves in Greater Manchester on Saturday 13 June. Chris Sykes, Greater Manchester Police’s Assistant Chief Constable, subsequently explained why the raves weren’t stopped, saying: “It’s not about what we allow, it’s about how we respond to things that take place.”
Following this incident in Manchester, there have been subsequent reports of illegal raves taking place across Leeds and Whittington in Staffordshire over the same weekend.
It’s been reported that such events are advertised to attendees on Snapchat and Instagram on the same day before their locations are finally revealed just before they take place via WhatsApp and Google Maps pins.
As the summer festival and live-music season is on hold due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, there are concerns that many young people will turn to illegal mass gatherings, such as these raves, throughout the summer.
James Morsh, a Nottingham club promoter who was one of the organisers of the UK’s first permitted socially distanced rave, has said that the summer of 2020 could mirror the ‘summers of rave’ that were seen in the late 1980s.
He said: “You know the summer of 89? I think this is a new revolution on the scale of that,” he said. “All the clubs are shut, everyone is at home, people have been cooped up at home for three months. As soon as they catch wind of anything, on Snapchat, Instagram stories or whatever, they’re like, ‘Where’s that? WhatsApp me the pin’.”
