We Are FSTVL: People 'collapse' after hours of queues at the gates
- Published
Some festival-goers "collapsed" after long queues led to crowds pushing through security gates at a London festival.
Videos and photos on social media appear to show a rush through the gates and a huge queue of people trying to get into We Are FSTVL.
Some ticketholders told Radio 1 Newsbeat they left the site without getting into the event.
Organisers have apologised for the problems.
The two-day festival is held in east London and its Saturday line-up included Chase and Status, Bugzy Malone and CamelPhat.
Eyewitnesses say a lack of wristbands meant that people had to queue in hot temperatures in Upminster - which led to people charging past staff and into the event.
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
"They'd run out of wristbands at the door so they didn't have drink token wristbands when they were letting people through," one 20-year-old female, who didn't want to be named, tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.
"They weren't handing out water so everyone in the queue for three hours didn't have a drink."
'They took out the barriers and pushed through security'
The woman says she was standing
near people vomiting in a fenced off area and claims that staff nearby offered no help before the rush at the gates.
"A barrier got thrown into the crowds, the woman next to me got hit by it and it sliced a massive chunk out of her leg," she says.
"She's passed out on the floor, security ran over to her and people were just charging through. They took out the barriers, pushed through security, punching security, just taking everyone out in their way."
She left the festival shortly afterwards and was escorted out into a car park by festival employees.
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
She says when she left, she saw ambulances and police vans arriving on the site.
In a statement given to Newsbeat, the Metropolitan Police said: "Officers are at the location and working alongside organisers and London Ambulance Service.
"We are not aware of any serious injury."
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
Festival-goer Renardo Henry, 21, travelled from Birmingham for the festival and says he was standing near people who passed out in the heat.
"We were in the queue, four people had collapsed around us, people were throwing up and shouting for medics, all the staff were doing was throwing water bottles into the crowd of people."
'People were crawling on the floor and crying'
He was also involved in the crush at the festival entrance.
"Everyone at the back of us was just pushing towards us," he says.
"I turned around to see my friends getting crushed by other people. People were coming out of there crawling and crying because they'd been trampled on.
"It was ridiculous and all the security was doing was trying to push people back."
But he says he and his two friends will return to We Are FSTVL on Sunday to try and get in again for the festival's second day.
The festival has put out a statement, offering "sincere apologies" for anyone that experienced delays.
Organisers also say they'll be adding additional staff and "infrastructure" to try and speed up the ticket checking process for Sunday's programme.
- Published24 May 2019
- Published25 May 2019
