FUN AT CARNIVAL WAS RESTRICTED

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Fun at carnival was restricted

I would like to share my thoughts with you regarding last Saturday's Caribbean Carnival.

It has been shrunk down to a small area of Victoria Park and had security Guantanamo Bay would have been proud of.

There were cameras watching everything.

I have attended the carnival since the year it began and have enjoyed the atmosphere and the freedom that it inspires.

This year was like something from George Orwell's 1984!

There were guards with metal detectors, searching bags and restricting alcohol to be taken into the site.

"Drink it before you go in," we were advised – by the security guards. So, cans of beer that would last all of the carnival were polished off in 10 minutes!

Better than taking it slowly over time!

Meanwhile, the official purveyors of beer onsite were charging £3 a can.

Mine were 95p from a shop!

Abbey Park music festival ended due to these draconian measures and I can see the carnival going down the same pan.

The site is a public park and a public open space.

Please Leicester City Council, don't tell me how to enjoy myself.

I will not be attending that prison they call Summer Sundae.

Phil Rowe, Knighton Fields