Stone Roses gigs blamed for huge crime rise in Finsbury Park

 
All the favourites: The Stone Roses Ian Brown at the Isle of Wight festival
Getty
Maxine Frith22 August 2013

Two concerts by the Indie rock band The Stone Roses in Finsbury Park have been blamed for an eight-fold increase in crime in the area.

Mobile phone robberies, assaults and anti-social behaviour sent recorded crime figures spiralling in the wake of the two gigs in June, according to official figures.

Fans of the band kickstarted brawls, urinated in nearby streets and intimidated local residents, while dog-walkers have complained that roads and parkland were still “sticky” for weeks afterwards.

Recorded figures by the Met Police showed that there were 195 reported incidents in the area during June , compared with 20 in May and 16 in April.

Police say that organised gangs of mobile phone robbers targeted the concerts while councillors say officials underestimated the scale of the predicted disorder.

The gigs, which were attended by more than 30,000 people on each of the two nights, were described as having an “aptly lairy” atmosphere by the music critic of The Independent newspaper.

Richard Wilson, the Liberal Democrat leader of the opposition at Haringey Council, said: “It’s really, really worrying that there has been such a big spike around the event and we need to ask questions of the council and police seeing as they want to increase the number of commercial concerts going on there.”

“It’s a concern that the police didn’t seem as well prepared as they ought to have been and not patrolling the local pubs and surrounding streets as much as we wanted.

Paul Convery, executive member for community safety at Islington Council, said: “The Finsbury Park ward is the one I remain concerned about.

“This rise [in crime] may well be something to do with the Stone Roses gig.

“There was a lot of disorder an unpleasant behaviour with people urinating everywhere.”

More than 2.500 people have also objected to plans to double the number of concerts held at the nearby Emirates Stadium next summer, during the football season hiatus.

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