On Saturday 2nd July more than 1,000 police officers were on duty in the area around London's Hyde Park in a massive operation to manage the huge crowds attending the Live8 concert. The joint operation between the Metropolitan and British Transport Police resulted in all leave for the weekend being cancelled and hundreds of extra officers working overtime to ensure police strength in other parts of the capital was unaffected. It became necessary to close roads around Hyde Park and contingency plans were in place to deal with every eventuality including terrorist attack. The operation was described by Chief Superintendent Helen Ball as one of the biggest in recent years; no charges were levied on the organisers of the event.

On Saturday 9th July the third Reggae Festival Of Wales was scheduled to begin. Three thousand people were expected to attend. There had been no trouble and no arrests at the two previous events. Police officers may have been required to direct traffic; the organisers were charged £16,500 which had to be paid up front.

As Dean Williams, Manager of Reggae Wales Ltd, explains

"(We) were advised to request a police presence on the weekend of the festival to help backup our own private security and safety stewards with public safety and vehicle management. Despite the expected capacity of the event being only a little higher than the previous year and the new venue having the same licensed capacity, the recommended event coverage from the local police force was considerably higher, which resulted in a higher charge."

The Dyfed-Powys Police must have been aware that their demands would result in the cancellation of the event. Plans that Reggae Wales had been working on for almost twelve months were dashed only a week before the festival was due to take place. Festival founder Ras Charles expressed his frustration

"We are bringing tourists up the M4 and I'm gutted because we are not getting the support."

By forcing cancellation at such a late stage the Police were ignoring the plight of reggae fans who'd already booked train tickets and time off work in order to attend. Some of the performers who were booked to play had turned down other venues in order to be at the festival and suffered interrupted tour schedules and cancelled flights. However most people involved are angry because the Reggae Festival Of Wales would have been the only roots reggae event in the UK this summer. A unique opportunity for the British dub fraternity to get together has been lost. This is particularly telling for the new generation of artists and sound systems who don't get the opportunity to play at the array of reggae festivals that take place in Europe. Nick Sasquash from Blackburn's Operation Sound System summed up their feelings

"This is a disgrace. My local force is sending one hundred and seventy five bobbies to help police the Live8 events and G8 summit in Scotland. That bill, in total fi all the many thousands of police, is apparently an incredible £50 million! The tax payer is footing that bill. We all pay nuff tax to these feckin thieves.They have a duty to police the Reggae Wales event. They have already been paid to do it! We are the most taxed nation pon the face of this earth! I tell ya the police are turning in to a huge business, taxing sound equipment and other things and then selling it, on the spot fines fe this, that and feckin everything. And oh yes, how can you forget the speed cameras and ting!"

 

On July 16th Patrick Barkham, in The Guardian newspaper, reported that there appears to be a ''new era of free parties" in an article entitled 'Rural dwellers rue return of the ravers'. It appears that short-staffed rural police seem unable to stop illegal out door parties and that residents have complained that they have been kept awake or had property damaged. Given these circumstances it seems ridiculous that Reggae Wales, who strived to provide a safe legal event, weren't supported by the police. A point that Nick Sasquash picks up on

"This type of thing is dangerous. I mean, if this is how they treat people that organise, play by the book and put on legal events. If even this is not allowed then ya very soon gonna see a situation happening where people will simply stage illegal events. Dem style of dances is where we started out over 10 years back and we love them sessions still."

He then asks

"Anyone up for a party?!"

And if you've just missed out on the only roots reggae festival that the UK has to offer, the answer is likely to be yes.

 

July 2005

Previous festival features

Reggae Wales website: www.reggaewales.com

Operation Website: www.operationsoundsystem.co.uk