Ban on parties and raves at Hackney Marshes ends

A High Court injunction which gave police the power to arrest people attending mass gatherings and parties on Hackney Marshes has been removed.

The ban, imposed last June, banned parties on the parkland as well as the playing of amplified music, open fires, dropping litter, damaging the flora and fauna, and inhaling laughing gas.

Hackney Council went to court to obtain the temporary injunction, in response to up to 400 people gathering on the Marshes on May 30 last year while the country was still in the first Covid-19 lockdown.

The local authority had been left to deal with the aftermath of the party, with litter strewn across the green space.

Police were given the power to arrest anyone suspected of flouting the injunction, with orders to bring them before a judge within 24 hours of being detained.

The injunction, against ‘persons unknown’, had been granted for 12 months and was due for a review by the court, but has now been removed by Mr Justice Nicklin in response to an application from the council to end the ban.

Earlier this week, the same judge ruled that injunctions aimed at traveller and gypsy camps should not be brought against unidentified people.

He found that councils must try to name people they want a ban to apply to, and cannot simply say it is against ‘persons unknown’ when seeking an injunction.

Hackney Council’s injunction, which was granted by a different High Court judge on June 9 last year, was against “persons unknown gathering in Hackney Marshes for the purposes of organising, attending, or participating in gatherings which may involve the playing of amplified music…depositing waste or other items on the land such as to cause a nuisance or annoyance…causing damage to the area”.  

Mr Justice Nicklin ordered the local authority to post copies of a notice about the ending of the injunction around the Marshes, as well as on its website and social media feeds.

Anyone who incurred legal costs while challenging the injunction can try to recover the money spent, the judge added.