Party on Primrose Hill over Easter weekend

• THE consequences of locking Primrose Hill at 10pm each night might be devastating for the area, (Police to close Primrose Hill overnight this weekend, April 9).

We live in a society where our civil liberties have been snatched away from us. It is too easy to have a problem and mutter “there should be a law against it, there should be a lock on it or it should require a licence”.

There is an old Chinese proverb that the more laws and enactments you have in society, the more thieves and vagabonds you actually create.

Keeping Primrose Hill open is a huge benefit to the area. Many troubled people seek solace with a late-night walk. It also a safety valve that keeps the crime in the area low.

A locked park would send out a message that the area is no longer safe which would be a magnet for every burglar and mugger in the area.

It is people walking on the hill and on the streets, late at night, that actually keeps the area safe. Lockdown has caused incredible tensions.

I have been on Primrose Hill late in the evening on every night since the troubles at Easter and it is simply young people enjoying the evening and the view. There have been a few parties. However the erratic policing has been the problem.

One evening there is a large crowd and no police, the next evening there will be a huge police presence closing the park with very few people around.

It is interesting to note that since the police have been closing the hill early at weekends there has been a crime wave in Primrose Hill village with about five shop windows smashed in one week.

The young people who have been sent home have be so disillusioned. Demonise your young people and they will turn into demons. Surely it is better for young people to be on the hill and enjoying the view until they get cold.

I was in Regent’s Park Road on Saturday night when the young people were streaming off the hill as it was closed and for a few moments about 70 started dancing and enjoying themselves.

It was a wonderful sight; however it does seem that young people enjoying themselves has become anti-social behaviour .

One borough police commander once said to me “put one officer on the Camden Town junction and the word gets out that the cops are about. The crime rate goes through the floor”.

Primrose Hill needs “a friendly cop at the top and all the problems will quickly stop”.

JONNY BUCKNELL
Chamberlain Street, NW1