Don't risk your life by attending a rave

In June 2020 GMP responded to two large illegal raves in Greater Manchester, one in Daisy Nook and the other in Carrington. One of these raves saw the tragic death of a member of the public, many others injured and officers being assaulted. Since these raves we have had a dedicated operation in place to scan intelligence and to supply extra resources around hot spot areas to ensure we stop these events taking place.

A large number have been prevented by reacting to intelligence we have found, or that has been reported to us by members of the public. Officers will proactively visit the addresses of organisers and issue a cease and desist letter to stop the illegal activity taking place.

As well as these raves being illegal, they are also highly dangerous to anyone in attendance. No medical team are on-site to help in emergencies and if emergency services are needed, the remote sites and large crowd can also delay the team reaching anyone in need. This is unfortunately what happened at one of last year's raves and is not something we want to see happen again. A man had been stabbed and it took our officers eight minutes, on foot, to reach him after he was reported as being unconscious and not breathing. It was quicker for them to abandon their vehicles due to the isolated location and uneven terrain. Officers provided life-saving CPR and an ambulance took him to hospital.

Policing these illegal events means that a large amount of resource is pulled away from potentially more critical incidents so we urge you not to attend. You may face arrest and prosecution if you are found at an illegal rave. We all have individual responsibility for protecting ourselves and those around us, which is especially important as we are still in a pandemic.

ACC Chris Sykes said: "Our message is clear; these events are unacceptable, they put lives at risk and they will not be tolerated. If you are thinking of attending an illegal rave please stop and think whether it's worth potentially risking your life for.

"There will continue to be a dedicated policing operation taking place over the weekend, with a much higher police presence in potential hotspot areas. When we see illegal activity taking place, we will take action.

"Many illegal raves are prevented due to reports we receive from members of the public. Thank you for continuing to contact us with any information you have, we act on all intelligence supplied to us and due to this you are helping prevent these dangerous events from taking place."

If you have any information that you would like to report to us, please do so by calling 101 or reporting it online at Report | Greater Manchester Police (gmp.police.uk)