Strawberry Fair, Cambridge 2008
Free, one-day arts and crafts festival.
(Photos © urban75, Saturday 7th June 2008)

We took another trip to the free festival at Cambridge, but much as we love and support this great festival, we have to say we perhaps enjoyed it the least of all our trips here.

The police put us on a big bummer before we'd even made it to the Fair, and when we got there it just seemed too busy, too little space and too full of drunken Fen boys staggering about the place. But maybe we just couldn't get in the mood after all the hassle at the station.


The British Transport police at Cambridge Station were heavy handed last year, but this year they managed to add even more layers of harassment for people coming to town for the annual free festival.


Arriving passengers were herded through a long, slow moving cattle run of zig-zag fencing, and then past a sniffer dog. Some were taken out for body searches.


The BTP operation at the station was completely out of scale, with something like 50 officers - a mix of regulars and PCSOs - backed by dogs, screening pens, fences, operations trucks and specially erected search tents.

It was a ludicrously over-the-top operation - even tourists visiting for the day were subjected to the same treatment. It felt like we'd arrived at a police state.


Performers in the Green Area - our favourite part of the festival.

































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Strawberry Fair 2008: discussion



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