Armed police were seen swooping in at Reading Festival following a night of torching tents, fighting and looting.
A video shared on TikTok shows a person being removed from the Richfield Avenue site by the officers after being arrested behind a food van.
A witness told Metro.co.uk yesterday she left at 2am in the morning after witnessing the chaos.
She claimed she had to pull her sleeping friend from a tent as flames from another, which had been set alight, were within inches of spreading to hers.
Videos posted online showed crowds of people gathered around throwing chairs and objects into flames which had been lit close to the tents.
The disorder at the festival broke out at 4pm on the Sunday afternoon aftersecurity presence around the area appeared to be limited.
Bystanders said chaos at the Reading Festival site peaked between midnight and 2am, after The 1975’s Sunday night headline performance.
Roads were gridlocked as visitors fled from the fires.
Chloe, 21, told Metro.co.uk: ‘People were throwing bottles of urine, creating tall bonfires and we even heard rumours of stabbings in and around the arena.
‘The fire I filmed was a couple paces from our tent, and everyone was adding more and more stuff to it.
‘When the wardens came around to get everyone away, everyone booed them and called them names.
‘We saw people coming from the other side of camp with a gazebo to put on top as kindling.
‘Security told people to just stay awake just in case there are more fires and didn’t really seem to be doing anything apart from a couple of them carrying addictions fire extinguishers.’
Meanwhile, fires also broke out across campsites at Leeds Festival based at Bramham Park.
In response to the chaos at Reading Festival, Thames Valley Police said: ‘There were some fires in the campsite on Sunday, but festival security had water pumps and extinguished these within minutes.
‘There was some disorder in the campsite at about 4.30pm on Sunday, but this was dealt with within minutes by festival security and about 50 people were ejected from the site.
‘Those ejected were safeguarded by the festival organisers, Thames Valley Police, and British Transport Police to ensure they could get home safely.’
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West Yorkshire Police added: ‘While some reports of anti-social behaviour were received, no reports were made to West Yorkshire Police regarding any serious disorder at the festival during the final night.
‘We are aware of sporadic tent fires which were dealt with by fire marshals on site, with persons then ejected. Police assistance was not required.’
A 16-year-old boy also died after a suspected drug overdose at Leeds Festival where he was celebrating his GCSE results.
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