NEXT year's T in the Park music festival is in jeopardy after mobs of drunken thugs clashed with police in riot gear at this weekend's event.
Police in Hamilton confirmed yesterday that their cells were full after more than 130 arrests were made during the weekend of pop bands in Strathclyde Park.
Dozens of officers were forced to carry riot shields as they tried to dodge flying bottles.
The carnival atmosphere of the two-day festival was marred after ticketless youths tried to get into the venue.
It is the first time serious trouble has broken out at the annual music festival - which is now in its third year.
South Lanarkshire councillor Mary Smith said yesterday the violence could mean the end of the road for T in the Park in the area.
She said: ``It's so disappointing to hear this because there has never been trouble like this before.
``The last two events have been such a success and such a boost for South Lanarkshire. To hear that there has been rioting really makes you wonder if the future of the festival is in jeopardy.
``Obviously we'll have to look closely at the evidence from the police before we make any future decisions.
``Strathclyde Park is the ideal location for a festival like this but I just don't know if it is likely to stay in South Lanarkshire.''
Monklands East MP Helen Liddell said: ``It's very sad to hear of the trouble that was caused by a small minority of people who weren't even attending the festival.
``It was a great exuberant experience for a lot of young people and it's such a shame that this has been jeopardised by these troublemakers.''
Tickets for this year's event sold out three weeks in advance and police confirmed that most of the arrests were for disorder-related offences and breach of the peace.
A police spokesman said: ``It would appear that the troublesome element at T in the Park was caused by those without tickets who were trying to gain entry.
``Our officers were forced to carry riot shields due to the nature of the alleged attack that they were subjected to.
``We made a number of arrests for alleged mobbing and rioting and 30 of the 130 people arrested will be appearing in court.''
The location for next year's event is yet to be decided.
The same spot in Strathclyde Park has already been ruled out because the ground is to be used for the development of the new-look Hamilton town centre.
No-one from the organisers' office was available for comment.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article