Over 20 people injured at Hendon festival

Festival goers at Copthall Playing Fields were hurt after a crush at the entrance to Ghana Party in the Park on Saturday reports Leïla Davaud

Coppthall Playing Fields in the London Borough of Barnet — opthall Playing fields by David Howard, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Over 20 people were injured at a festival in Hendon on Saturday after a fire was followed by crush at the entrance.

Firefighters were called out to support the Metropolitan Police following a crush at the entrance to the ‘Ghana Party in the Park’ festival at Copthall Playing Fields.

According to the police, officers were first alerted to reports of crushing at the event entrance shortly after 6pm on 1st August.

A small fire had broken out near the entrance, prompting organisers to close the gates temporarily. When the gates reopened, a crowd that had built up outside surged forward.

Police said officers responded quickly, working with event organisers to form a barrier between the surging crowd and people who had fallen to the ground.

Officers began providing initial medical care, including CPR, to those who were injured, before being joined by paramedics and firefighters as part of what police described as a coordinated multi-agency response. Four fire engines and a Fire Rescue Unit attended the scene.

At least 23 people sustained “non-life threatening injuries”, including three people who were taken to hospital.

The event, meant to end at 9pm, was brought to an early close after a “major incident” was declared due to overcrowding, and crowds are reported to have left the site without further incident.

‘Ghana Party in the Park’ is an annual outdoor festival celebrating Ghanaian music, culture, food and fashion for London’s Ghanaian diaspora.

It has run since 2005 and typically draws crowds of more than 8,000 people, according to figures from the London Assembly.

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