Tube booze ban bash ends in chaos

Police arrested 17 people after a party to mark the last day of drinking on the London Underground.British Transport Police (BTP) closed six Tube stations as thousands descended on the Central Line.Eyewitnesses said there were nightmarish scenes on trains and in stations as drunken partygoers began fighting and vomiting as the planned gathering drew to a chaotic close.The party was organised after London's new Mayor Boris Johnson announced a ban on drinking across the capital's public transport network from Sunday.Four train drivers and three other London Underground staff were assaulted, one police vehicle was damaged and two officers assaulted and another injured.A spokesman for British Transport Police said 17 people were arrested for offences such as assault, drunk and disorderly, assault on police, public order and drug offences.The Tube stations closed by police were Liverpool Street, Euston, Euston Square, Aldgate, Gloucester Road and Baker Street.A BTP spokesman said: "This was an unfortunate end to what should have been a fun event."Photographer Desmond Fitzgerald, 48, from Croydon, who was at Gloucester Road station at 11pm on Saturday, said: "At first the atmosphere was happy but anarchic, defiant. People had party hats on, they were having a good time, but were so drunk."When I got on the train it was worse than rush hour, and with every station it went through more and more heavily drunk people seemed to be getting on."Then a fight broke out between about five people, but because we were so tightly packed in it soon spread throughout the carriage and I had to struggle to escape to the next one."The atmosphere had really changed by this point. People were ripping off adverts and maps and being sick all over the place."

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ITN | June 1, 2008

Tags:. .thousands. .scenes. .event. .drug. .sunday