Cirque du Soul: Ticket-holders refused entry as police shut down ‘out of control’ queue

Cirque du Soul is one of the most popular events in the Edinburgh Uni calendar and this year the travelling club night had promised to be bigger than ever before.

In reality, however, entry had to be closed by police at around 12:15am due to the size of the crowd queuing to get in, resulting in ticket-holders being turned away.

According to witnesses, there was little co-ordination between the police and the bouncers. When the police shut the main entrance, the bouncers opened the side exit. This funnelled people from the main queue into the tight alleyway down the side.

Liquid Rooms, who hosted the event, told The Tab that the event was not oversold, but suggested that too many people turned up at the same time: "Last night's Cirque Du Soul event was not oversold and the venue was not full, at Midnight (sic) there was only 300 people in the venue.

"Despite multiple warnings about coming down early for this event a very large crowd turned up 60-90 minutes after the doors opened resulting in a large queue.

"Our security team on numerous occasions advised the queue to remain calm and patient but were completely ignored. The Police were also in attendance last night and the queue still blatantly ignored the warnings."

Cirque du Soul echoed this sentiment in a response posted on their Facebook page earlier this evening:

The queue was traumatic for many of the people there. Meredith, a second-year student managed to get in, but said: "By the time I'd got through the crush I'd started hyperventilating and getting lockjaw.

"I felt like I was getting choked and it makes me tense thinking about it now".

According to another second-year, Sophie: "The queue was out of control, like ten people deep, everyone was pushing.

"I got knocked to the ground, and being on the edge, smacked onto the concrete".

People were also hospitalised, with reports of one girl cracking her head open on the pavement after being pushed over in the queue.

According to witnesses, the number of people who were turned away outside, having paid at least ten pounds for their ticket, approached at least a hundred.

It is unclear at this time if those who were turned away will be refunded.