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Iron Maiden criticise rioters
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 11 March 2009
Iron Maiden’s manager has criticised over 100 people who were arrested for trying to gatecrash the band’s concert at Simon Bolivar Park in Bogota on Saturday. Columbian police clashed with a group of people who were attempting to gain entry to the show hours before the band were due to take to the stage.
In a statement posted on the band’s website, Rod Smallwood said: “We abhor the inane behaviour of a small minority of people outside. They do Iron Maiden, metal and the real Colombian fans a disservice and sadly just provide a reason for the military to feel they need to be there. Our fans are there for the MUSIC. We definitely intend to return to Colombia and trust the authorities will not be swayed to banning Maiden and metal because of a minority of trouble makers spoiling it for the huge majority of true Iron Maiden fans”.
He added that reports of “riots” outside the venue had been an exaggeration: “The ‘riots’ were basically a lot of kids trying to break into the Simon Bolivar Park to see the show and the park has a big perimeter to protect. There is a large military presence for all concerts in Bogota as can be seen in our forthcoming movie ‘Flight 666’. [The] performance was [not] at all affected by the incidents of people outside trying to break in. None of the enjoyment of the show or safety of the band or our audiences was at all compromised”.
