[Spoken: Anchor]
Good evening, and welcome to Southwest Tonight. We start on the growing craze of acid house parties and fears of the local residents. Martin Fillory reports
[Spoken: Martin Fillory]
During the early hours of Saturday morning, an acid house party is in full swing near Bath. Up to 3,000 people have gathered to attend the illegal party, held at a disused warehouse. At approximately 5 a.m., police arrived in full riot gear to break up what people are now calling a rave. Partygoers have criticized the police and their heavy-handedness to break up the event
[Spoken: Partygoer 1]
People were trying to get away, falling over, getting hit with the shields and the baton. Their shields aren't used to push, they're digging at us. They're not pushing us with them, they're hitting us with them
[Spoken: Partygoer 2]
They treated us like animals, basically. I've been to a few raves and it's got out of control a few times but this is them taking a step too far, I think, personally
[Spoken: Bystander]
You know, a lot of the police here are very understanding, I don't think they really want to be here, they've got better things to be doing, you know? And it's just a [?]. It's 3,000 disappointed people all going [?]. Well, this is really what's been happening every weekend, it's getting more and more depressing
[Spoken: Bystander 2]
I think the way to do it is for them to be legalized, for the measures and standards to be set down, and for the operators, in other words, the organizers to meet those kind of standards, so they can have a nice party, because very nice people go to them