The British Transport police at Cambridge Station were heavy handed last year, but this year they managed to add even more layers of harassment for people coming to town for the annual free festival.
Arriving passengers were herded through a long, slow moving cattle run of zig-zag fencing, and then past a sniffer dog. Some were taken out for body searches.
The BTP operation at the station was completely out of scale, with something like 50 officers – a mix of regulars and PCSOs – backed by dogs, screening pens, fences, operations trucks and specially erected search tents.
It was a ludicrously over-the-top operation – even tourists visiting for the day were subjected to the same treatment. It felt like we’d arrived at a police state.
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