Dust settles from PNE riot

By Tom Eley

The PNE has banned the Breakout music festival after a riot ignited last September when the headlining act failed to show up, according to a PNE spokesperson.

On Sept. 18, a handful of disgruntled fans caused $300,000 in damage, rampaging through the PNE when heading act Lil Baby failed to show up for his performance.

“Our leadership and our CEO have been very clear a Breakout Festival will not be welcome back to PNE and it will not happen at on our site again,” said PNE spokesperson Laura Ballance.

After nine of the initial top-10 suspects were apprehended, the VPD released a new series of photographs, identifying more suspects from the riot.

“All of the suspects identified so far have been thanks to tips from the public or from people turning themselves in,” VPD media relations officer Sgt. Steve Addison said.

The VPD anticipate that criminal charges will be laid in the new year once they consult the Crown counsel, said Addison.

The Spark

According to one fan who attended the concert, mob mentality was at the root of the riot.

“It was more of a sort of monkey see, monkey do a type of thing,” said Yari Chen. “Festival promoters did as much as they could have.

“There’s definitely nothing they could have done better to prepare for it.”

Chen said the fault lies with the audience and the artist, and not with the PNE or the promoter.

“We actually think our plans and our security protocols, which have been developed over the past 112 years, are very good,” Laura Ballance said.