Yobs loot shops and refuse to pay for food on another day of chaos at Rutland ...

Yobs loot shops and refuse to pay for food on another day of chaos at Rutland ...
Yobs loot shops and refuse to pay for food on another day of chaos at Rutland ...

Yobs have looted shops and refused to pay for food on another day of chaos at a traveller festival near a small market town.

Thugs ran amok and left traders too scared to open in Oakham in Leicestershire as 1,500 people headed to the Christian music event.

Police revealed they have received hundreds of calls from terrified locals since the week-long party kicked off last Saturday.

Superintendent Jonny Starbuck said there were reports of 'considerable' anti-social behaviour and two people had been arrested.

He added they had been made aware of shoplifting and 'non-payment for food from local businesses' amid the event.

Earlier in the week two pubs were wrecked and food fights broke out at McDonald's and Aldi and M&S were ransacked.

Business owners claimed a white van drove along the street with two women getting out and trying the doors of some of the shops.

Thugs ran amok and left traders too scared to open in Oakham in Leicestershire as 1,500 people headed to the Christian music event. Pictured: Police outside the showground

Thugs ran amok and left traders too scared to open in Oakham in Leicestershire as 1,500 people headed to the Christian music event. Pictured: Police outside the showground

Police revealed they have received hundreds of calls from terrified locals since the week-long party kicked off last Saturday

Police revealed they have received hundreds of calls from terrified locals since the week-long party kicked off last Saturday

Superintendent Jonny Starbuck said there were reports of 'considerable' anti-social behaviour and two people had been arrested. Pictured: A caravan is towed by a recovery van by the event

Superintendent Jonny Starbuck said there were reports of 'considerable' anti-social behaviour and two people had been arrested. Pictured: A caravan is towed by a recovery van by the event

Superintendent Jonny Starbuck said: 'Initially we received over one hundred calls to police in relation to this event, mostly these calls to police were to notify us that it was happening and ask us if we were aware of the event.

'There was considerable anti-social behaviour reported and we have made two arrests.

'Since the policing operation was put in place we have seen these calls to police drop to twenty.

'We are aware of non-payment for food and shoplifting from local businesses and we are working with them to ensure the right action is taken.

'Mainly, we have had reports of anti-social behaviour and a few reports relating to Covid compliance.'

He added the event was legal and it was only a minority of attendees who were causing the mayhem.

Around 1,500 travellers in hundreds of caravans descended on Rutland Showground for the Pentecostal Gypsy-led Christian event, called the festival of Light and Life

Around 1,500 travellers in hundreds of caravans descended on Rutland Showground for the Pentecostal Gypsy-led Christian event, called the festival of Light and Life

The event, scheduled to finish tomorrow with attendees expected to leave by Friday, has left locals and business owners furious

The event, scheduled to finish tomorrow with attendees expected to leave by Friday, has left locals and business owners furious

How millions of travellers (including Tyson Fury) have abandoned Catholicism for the evangelical Christianity at the heart of Oakham religious festival  

Travellers have abandoned their traditional Catholic faith in huge numbers for evangelical Christianity.

The Pentecostal movement, which is now Gypsy-led in the UK, has seen an explosion in numbers in the past 20 to 30 years.

Among the newer followers is celebrated heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury (pictured last week), who became a born-again Christian after his  uncle Ernest became a Pentecostal preacher in Congleton, Cheshire.

The move towards evangelical Christianity by travellers has become the subject of university studies, as academics try to work out why it has happened.

Some estimate that a third of Europe's 12million travellers have now changed to this form of Christianity.

In her recent e-book, journalist Katharine Quarmby said on the subject: 'In a reversal of roles, it is the Romani people who see themselves as the saved, the preachers of truth, who want to heal a world they see as broken by lack of faith, in a Europe where our politicians are judged to have lost much of their moral authority.' 

Yvonne Macnamara, chief executive of the Traveller Movement, told the Guardian: 'It's a comfort blanket and within these communities it's also a way of coping with a lifestyle that is constantly under attack and almost completely eroded.

'When you've been such an excluded community, then religion can provide a form of kinship, direction and strength. That's one reason so many in the community have such a profound faith'.

Advertisement

Around 1,500 travellers in hundreds of caravans descended on Rutland Showground for the Pentecostal Gypsy-led Christian event, called the festival of Light and Life.

The event, scheduled to finish tomorrow with attendees expected to leave by Friday, has left locals and business owners furious.

Some claimed a white van drove along the main street on Saturday with two women intermittently getting out and trying the doors of some of the shops.

One on Mill Street, who declined to be named, said: 'People have seen them having a go at the door to the clothes shop and

read more from dailymail.....

PREV Fresh twist in family's ugly battle over $1million lottery win as father and ... trends now
NEXT In news vacuum, rumours and concern swirl over Catherine mogaznewsen