Great day...over too soon

Bitter disappointment followed the early closure of this year’s Abbeyfield Multicultural Festival following what police described as a ‘suspicious incident’. Green City Action (GCA) later confirmed it was a bomb scare, with more than one warning being received.

It was shaping up to be a superb day but after less than three hours the code words that nobody wanted to hear were passed round the staff and stewards, “Tony Blair is in the park”, signalling a security alert and the park’s immediate evacuation.

Garry Smith of GCA said: “I’m gutted. But to look on the positive side, we had thousands of people here having a great time. The Police have complemented us on our evacuation procedure and we’re really proud of the way people behaved when it happened, everyone left in a really calm way.”

Nothing was found in the park after a police search. But by then police had already announced to the waiting crowds outside:

“The party is over, the festival has finished. It will not be reopened.”

But before all that… Good times…

It’s the first time I’ve been. I’m keen to see Zion Train, it’s nice to come over to this side of town. – Jim, Walkley

There was a very interesting mix of food and different varieties of music. I’ve had a really good start to my day I hope it carries on being good. – Morgan age 15

It’s all good. – Smalls, Crabtree

I like it me. – Shaun, Manor

Brilliant, happy, lots of activities representative of everyone, everywhere should be like this. Especially after the bombing in London, it’s so appropriate. – Francis, Firshill Crescent

Festival photography by Camille Daughma, Carl Rose and Reuben Vincent. Festival reporting by Rose Almond, James Heath, Mark Lankshear and Gaby Spinks.

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The content on this page was added to the website by John Mellor on 2012-06-21 14:37:41.
The content of the page was last modified by Jamie Marriott on 2016-10-25 15:59:31.

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