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HALLOWEEN RAVE SHUT DOWN BY RIOT POLICE AFTER SIX HOURS

Met finally brought Lambeth event to a close at 6am after overnight clashes with ravers

An illegal Halloween rave in central London lasted six hours before being shutdown by the police.

Skirmishes broke out between police and revellers on Saturday night, after officers attempted to prevent hundreds of people from entering the event in Lambeth.

The Met said eight people were arrested during clashes that went on through the night. The rave, which was advertised on Facebook as Scumoween: A Nightmare On Scum Street, was finally closed down at 6am.

Videos posted to YouTube captured violent confrontations between line of riot police and ravers.

Academic and Explore Everything author Bradley Garrett, who was at the event, criticised the police for reacting with a disproportionate show of force.  

“They turned up in full riot gear and created a huge bottleneck. There must have been 1,000 people trying to get in. The police turned aggressive very fast. People were trying to rationalise with them, saying it’s better to let people in, otherwise this is going to create a mess in the neighbourhood,” Garrett told the Guardian.

Police said that number of missiles where thrown at officers, including one reported petrol bomb.

In a warning on Wednesday to those planning to attend, Scum Tek wrote in a Facebook post: “This party is going ahead, stay peaceful, stay calm. Patience and numbers is in our favour. Do not antagonise the police. We don’t need to. At the end of the day we want to leave them remembering our good attitudes, we just came to dance, we are not their enemy.”