Fears are growing for the upcoming Oasis shows after hordes of ticketless fans stormed Heaton Park after the first weekend of Manchester concerts saw 15 arrested. Crowds of people were seen huddled together outside the 80,000 capacity venue as The Gallagher brothers performed back in their hometown.
People were captured desperately climbing over fences in a bid to gain entry into the highly anticipated shows. They were caught on camera running over a fallen metal fence panel and then disappearing behind a row of trees. According to Manchester Evening News, an eyewitness claimed that “around 50 people” had tried to “rush” one of the internal entrances to the gig area. On Saturday night, six people – five men and a woman in three separate incidents – were arrested on suspicion of fraud after attempting to access the venue with fake accreditation.
A further arrest was made of a man on suspicion of assaulting a member of security staff.
On Friday night, July 11, some six suspects were arrested around the first gig, most for being drunk and disorderly. However, police officers also caught drone pilots attempting to launch aircraft in “restricted air space”. Five drones were seized.
The policing operation for the gigs was similar to operations for big football matches. It will be repeated for the remaining three Oasis concerts at Heaton Park on Wednesday, Saturday and next Sunday.
A section 34 Dispersal Order was in place for the concerts, allowing officers to direct individuals to leave a specified area and not return for a period of up to 48 hours to reduce anti-social behaviour and its impact on the community.
Assistant Chief Constable Matt Boyle said: “We have been planning for these events for several months, working with partners and the organisers to make sure everyone can enjoy the concerts safely.
“To that end, I’m pleased to say that the first two Oasis homecoming events have been a success.
“We will have a highly visible presence in and around Heaton Park, and across the city, to ensure the next three events continue to pass safely.
“A number of people without tickets attempted to gain entry through a perimeter gate on Saturday night but failed to do so.
“We continue to support the event organisers and the local authority with their plans preventing any unauthorised access to the arena site.
“While arrests have thankfully been minimal, we have had to take some suspects to custody, including one after an alleged assault on a steward on Saturday night. We will not tolerate any abuse of anyone doing their job.
“On Friday night we also dealt with a number of breaches of airspace restrictions involving drones where our officers seized five drones and spoke to two other pilots.
“We continue to have airspace restrictions in place on the nights of the concerts and anyone found breaching the one-and-a-half-mile restriction zone could face prosecution.”