By Ariella Greenfield, News Reporter and Ellen Paterson, News Reporter
Electric was hosting the University of Bristol’s unofficial sports night ‘Fishies’ event, which was holding a Y2K and Rihanna tribute event at the club on Wednesday January 28.
Witnesses said to Epigram that the queue to enter the event began to get busy around 11:30 PM, gradually getting ‘tighter and tighter’ as more people joined the line.
Attendees were reported to be ‘struggling to breathe’ and constant pushing appears to have caused a crowd surge at the front of the line.
Nine police vehicles and three ambulances were seen outside the nightclub, according to Bristol Live. A spokesperson from Avon and Somerset Police told Epigram the force received a call just after 11:50 PM to Nelson Street, and left the scene by 00:50 PM having dispersed the crowd.
Epigram / Sam Couriel
The situation led Electric to shut their doors, with over ten security guards reportedly blocking the entrance.
One individual was taken to hospital in an ambulance with a suspected neck injury, the police and ambulance services said, while multiple attendees sustained injuries according to witnesses Epigram has spoken to.
We’ve seen images from a second-year University of Bristol student, Emily, with multiple bruises on her leg after being trampled on by those around her as the crowd surged.
Another witness, Bea, also in her second year, claimed an individual with crutches was stood on, and said she saw multiple people later attended to by ambulance crews.
She believes ‘at least one hundred’ attendees were barred from entering the club, creating a dangerous atmosphere on the street.
An Epigram editor, Ivor Starkey, said the night was akin to a ‘warzone’, telling us his girlfriend’s head was stepped on after she was knocked over.
He also alleged Electric closed the exits whilst clubbers were inside, only allowing him to leave after repeated requests.
South Western Ambulance Service confirmed to Epigram that following a 00:15 AM call, two double-crewed ambulances and an operations officer arrived at the scene.
Several one-star reviews have been posted to Google since the event, with one user labelling Electric as ‘dangerous’ and claiming the security personnel were ‘rude and unprofessional.’
Another claimed the event was ‘massively oversold’, and the venue should be in ‘a lot of trouble’ after the night.
Fishies told us that Electric did not have the queue under control, despite the event not being oversold.
They said that the uncontrolled crowd ‘was awful to see’ and added that those unable to enter the venue would be automatically refunded within 3-5 days.
Epigram contacted Electric for comment, but received no official response.
However, we did manage to speak to a security guard who was working on the night.
The security guard said that the venue’s capacity is around 2000, however, on January 28 around 3000 people showed up for the event.
The guard said that the situation, including ‘girls getting stuck in the barriers’, led to Electric calling the police for help.
He claimed the incident was a result of ‘pushing’, and that attendees were drunk, more so than normal. He said staff had gone up and down the queue in attempts to stop students from ‘pushing.’
Multiple club goers also told Epigram they witnessed an arrest made at the scene, claiming the individual had said the n-word.
However, while Avon and Somerset Police confirmed that a man was arrested on Nelson Street at 00:30 AM with no separate call placed, the force said the arrest was ‘unrelated’ to the wider disorder.
A spokesperson for Avon and Somerset Police said in a statement to Epigram:
‘We were called just after 11.50pm yesterday (Wednesday 28 January) to Nelson Street, in Bristol, following reports of a potential disorder outside a nightclub in which barriers had been knocked over and people pushed.
‘Officers attended to support security staff and the crowd was dispersed.
‘We are not aware of any serious injuries but understand our colleagues at the ambulance service transported one person to hospital for a possible neck injury.
‘Our licensing team have already reached out to the venue and event organisers to understand what happened and to prevent matters of this nature happening in the future.’
Featured image: Epigram / Annabel Bienfait
