Police and paramedics have told how they were pelted with bottles as they tried to save the life of a stabbing victim at an illegal lockdown rave in Carrington.
A man was left with life-threatening injuries after being stabbed. Two others were also knifed and a woman was raped at l ast weekend’s rave, which was attended by up to 2,000 people.
Two of the first police officers on the scene have now described how they met with a barrage of beer bottles and gas canisters as they attempted to help the victims.
Paramedics also needed a police escort to get to the remote site as some of the ravers became 'aggresive and hostile'.
PC Will Horrocks said his shift 'started off like any other Saturday evening' - before the incident in Carrington came to light.
He described telling revellers not to enter the event off Common Lane because there'd been a serious incident and it was believed people were carrying weapons.
He said: "However that didn't deter many people at all and they continued to try and push past us.
"On entering the main area of the rave were met with quite a lot of hostilty.
"Bottles being thrown at us, people clearly not wanting us to be there and getting quite aggressive to the point where we had to escort paramedics into the site to keep them safe and get them to the victims safely."
PC Andrew Hunt said when he arrived 'hundreds of people' were getting out of taxis on the edge of the site.
Initially people were 'generally friendly', he said but as police made their way to the main stage they came across 'our first person who'd been stabbed' .
"People were shocked and distressed when they saw what had happened,"
After getting the victim to safety PC Hunt said police found a second man who had been 'injured really badly'.
He said: "It was a pretty distressing thing to have to deal with.
"The problems that we had trying to get this poor victim out. TAO (Tactical Aid Unit) were having to cut down gates and fences to get their vans in to get the victin out because the ambulances couldn't even get in there.
"It must have been a mile or two off the main road, so it was incredibly difficult to get in there in the first place, find where these people were and then extract them.
"The victim of the stabbing is incredibly lucky to be alive."
On Thursday GMP released graphic video footage from body-worn cameras of officers at the scene of one of the stabbings.
In the footage the 18-year-old victim repeatedly begs police to save him.
"Please get an ambulance. Please, bro, please, I'm begging you." he asks them.
Oliver Mayor, North West Ambulance Service operation commander, said police and paramedics had 'canisters and bottles of beer' at them in what was a 'volatile situation'.
He said NWAS received a total of 40 calls for the Carrington rave and another illegal rave that was held at Daisy Nook in Oldham on the same night. A 20-year-old man died of a suspected drug overdose after the Daisy Nook event, which was attended by 4,000 people.
Mr Mayor added: "During that night, which was already busy, the amount of resources sent to Daisy Nook and Carrington put a massive strain on the NHS.
"We don't have things put in place to support events like this. We're going to these incidents not knowing what we're attending."
On Friday a dispersal order was issued for a large part of Carrington.
The order gives police the power to move people out of the area - and arrest anyone who refuses.
It covers a large area around Carrington, including the brownfield site land where athe rave was held last Saturday.
The order comes into effect at 5.30pm this evening (Friday) and will be enforced for 48 hours.
PC Hunt urged anyone of thinking of attending a similar event this weekend to 'stay away'.
He said: "It's a really, really dangerous thing to go to.
"Not everyone goes with the same intentions. There are people going there with bad intentions. There were a number of people that were carrying weapons. The resources to be able to get to fix things when it starts going wrong is incredibly difficult."
