June 25, 2001 11:23

RADIO 1 DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM GUN INCIDENT

A spokeperson for the station says the incident which resulted in the arrest of two men were at Manchester's Heaton Park happened after the event...

RADIO 1 have distanced themselves from the gun incident at yesterday's '1 BIG SUNDAY' event in MANCHESTER (June 24), which resulted in the arrest of two men.

As reported yesterday on NME.COM, the incident happened after the event at Heaton Park yesterday afternoon. Police have this morning said they are still questioning the men, and no further details have as yet been revealed.

A spokesperson for Radio 1 told NME.COM this morning that the incident happened outwith the official confines of the 80,000 capacity event. "It was all off-site, it wasn't something to do with the event itself,' he said.

And he emphasised that the free concert was not cut short, contrary to reports: "It was not shut down early, that is totally untrue. It was on air from 2pm until 4pm as planned, and then Wyclef Jean did an extra half-hour off-air as an extra thing for the audience. The event was definitely not cut short for any reason."

He confirmed press reports that Emma Bunton had been booed by the audience, but said she had not cut short her performance. "When you've got a mixed crowd like that some of the crowd are going to be into Wyclef and not Emma Bunton, and that's how it went."

While he did not rule out reports that there may have been some trouble in the audience, saying "when you've got 80,000 people in one place, inevitably there are one or two people who make a little bit of trouble. But on the whole it was peaceful event which went well."