No Rock And Roll Fun

THE OTHER SIDE OF LEEDS?: According to this post on the Lammo Messageboard, the trouble at Leeds wasn't the toilet burners, but the cops themselves. 'Chris' claims Some idiot vandals set fire to the toilets, okay. That's inexcusable. But the response was to send in 200 armed riot police with dogs and rubber bullets, who proceeded to beat up anybody they saw who wasn't in a tent.
Those who clashed with the police mostly didn't WANT to fight, but the police fought them and they had no choice. I was camped 20 feet from Pooh Bridge, the centre of most of the violence, and luckily I was in my tent when they arrived... but those not so lucky were forced into my field and the adjacent one, even though their tents were in other fields. The police used force on anybody who wouldn't return to their tents, but refused to allow anybody past them to get back to their campsites; they forced the violence.
In another development, Guns N Roses tour manager has told the NME of Mean Fiddler Melvin Benn's bravery in allowing the band to continue way past the agreed curfew time in the face of the real possibility of imprisonment.
Of course, you could argue that neither of the police appearance nor the over-run would have happened at a better run festival, but...