Arrests made after thousands of Oasis fans descend on Heaton Park gig

Local police have issued a statement after ticketless Oasis fans desperately tried to break into Heaton Park.

Tickets to see Liam and Noel Gallagher reunite have been like gold dust, whispered between music fans ever since they went on sale in August last year.

Many will remember battling it out in queues all day long, only to be met with dynamically priced seats and sold-out messages.

While millions were left disappointed, a determined few took matters into their own hands and decided to risk scaling the fences around the Manchester gig.

As Liam, 52, and Noel, 58, performed to the 80,000 concert-goers in their hometown for the first time in 16 years, the security staff had their hands full with overly enthusiastic fans.

Six were arrested on the first night, while a further nine were booked on night two after the Greater Manchester Police put a ‘section 47’ dispersal order in place.

Drunk and disorderly behaviour prompted some arrests as GMP said three were suspected of assault, one of which was a serious ‘section 18’ assault inside the venue.

Another suspect was arrested after a member of the security team was attacked, according to Manchester Evening News.

However, others were held on suspicion of fraud after scores of fans attempted to bluff their way into the venues.

Assistant Chief Constable Matt Boyle said: ‘We have been planning for these events for several months, working with partners and the organisers to make sure everyone can enjoy the concerts safely.

‘To that end, I’m pleased to say that the first two Oasis homecoming events have been a success.’

‘What has been especially pleasing is how more than 100,000 people have enjoyed these iconic events safely and without trouble. We will have a highly visible presence in and around Heaton Park, and across the city, to ensure the next three events continue to pass safely.’

Section 47 allows police to remove anyone loitering in the area, in a bid to keep the crowd outside of the park to a minimum.

‘A number of people without tickets attempted to gain entry through a perimeter gate on Saturday night but failed to do so,’ shared Boyle.

‘We continue to support the event organisers and the local authority with their plans preventing any unauthorised access to the arena site.

‘While arrests have thankfully been minimal, we have had to take some suspects into custody, including one after an alleged assault on a steward on Saturday night. We will not tolerate any abuse of anyone doing their job.

‘On Friday night, we also dealt with a number of breaches of airspace restrictions involving drones, where our officers seized five drones and spoke to two other pilots.

‘We continue to have airspace restrictions in place on the nights of the concerts and anyone found breaching the one-and-a-half-mile restriction zone could face prosecution.’

Other fans decided to watch the show from a nearby hill, given that the concert was plenty loud enough for the surrounding area to hear.

Dubbed ‘Gallagher Hill’, the fans didn’t feel half the world away as they sang along and watched with a birdseye view of the gig.

Oasis will perform five more shows in Manchester before continuing on to London and then the rest of the world.

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