[dropcap]Students[/dropcap] at the Maynooth SU Fest were evacuated following people getting crushed in Mischief nightclub.
Gardaí carried out an evacuation of the nightclub after two people were injured after being crushed on October 4th at the fest.
The nightclub located on Main Street, was hosting popular acts including DJ Hannah Wants.
Tickets were sold for the event online, at the SU and at the door on the night.
The crush occurred at approximately 2am during DJ Hannah Wants’ set. Three Maynooth students have spoken to The College View about the atmosphere of the crowd at this time and across the night.
First year music technology student Niamh Oliver described it as a “disgrace.”
“The crowd was so rowdy from the start and continued for the whole night because the place was extremely overpacked and you could not move an inch,” she said.
There are two levels to the venue, with DJ Hannah wants playing on level two. Prior to the night, the venue had issued warnings over the capacity of the two separate levels during their online promotion.
The notice stating: ‘Each level has a capacity limit so for safety reasons we will be operating a “One in one out”’ was included on the event’s Facebook page.
“It was ridiculously crowded, like you couldn’t move around without people banging into you…. everyone was just fighting, and security were going crazy trying to control everyone, but they couldn’t,” said a second year in Maynooth who chose to remain anonymous over fears of being discriminated against in Mischief.
Mia Scully, second year social science student agreed by saying: “As the night went on it became more and more obvious that there were way too many people”.
Scully, who fell during the crush said, “Gardaí arrived after a few of us had fallen but the entrance was blocked with what looked like a fallen barrier, so the Gardaí had to physically
help us over.”
Gardaí have confirmed to The College View that they “attended at a premises on Main Street, Maynooth in the early hours of the morning of October 4th 2018.”
They added that “patrons were evacuated from the premises with the assistance of the Gardai and other emergency services.”
Following the evacuation, students said they had to wait up to “40 minutes in the lashing rain” to get their coats and bags out of the venues cloakroom.
DJ Hannah Wants took to Twitter following her performance saying: “Big up Maynooth that was crazy, security had to go get barriers for the crowd.”
Wants described Mischief as “the hottest club” she’s ever played in.
Róisín Phelan
Image Credit: Florin Baban