I was a normal suburban teenage kid back then but I’ve met a fair few people from the alternative community of that time (some of them were even my high school teachers lol)

The cops were of course well out of order but there was loads of other bad shit as well on the other side – although its claimed heroin (with some truth) that was infiltrated onto the community to fuck it up at the same time it was and still remains peoples lack of self control that so many people on alternative cultrues fuck up from drugs

was also told by several people that there was prostitution going on the site and the girls were selling their bodies to the local squaddies (same ones what backed up the cops at the battle I expect)

so much for the “womens liberation” element of it people looked up to back in the 1980s

this weren’t daily mail readers telling me this either but seasoned travellers/squatters

in hindsight the whole thing was a big fuck up on both sides and a stain on this countrys character

thankfully it seemed it shocked both sides to their senses and IMO that is what led to the 90s brief tolerance of rave culture

but it hurts me to see people making the same fuck ups yet again, when I see anger, misogyny and raves being broken up by riot cops as recently as last year its like there has been no fucking progress whatsover..