Thousands from Brighton and Hove descend on Lewes for Bonfire night

Thousands of people travelled from Brighton and Hove to the Lewes Bonfire celebrations last night.
About 40,000 people are estimated by Sussex Police to have been at the event – a number more than double the size of the town’s population.
More than 20,000 travelled in especially for the evening – and even a little rain failed to dampen people’s spirits, a police spokesman said.
A total of 23 arrests were made, most of which were for drunken behaviour, having class C drugs and a couple of minor assaults.
South East Coast Ambulance Service and St John Ambulance dealt with 127 individuals, with 14 people needing hospital treatment. All were relatively minor injuries.
East Sussex Fire and Rescue reported a relatively quiet Lewes Bonfire, standing by in numbers but having to deal with only a couple of small-scale incidents.
Chief Superintendent Robin Smith, Sussex Police’s East Sussex divisional commander, said: “Once again, people have attended in their thousands to line the streets and take part in the Lewes bonfire celebrations.
“Given the huge numbers we have seen attending, it has been a peaceful and successful event with very few isolated incidents.
“I’d like to thank all the organisers, the emergency services and all the participants for making the event such a great success.
“Our priority, with partners, was to support the Lewes Bonfire Society ensuring the safety of those attending the event.
“Lewes Bonfire is one of the Sussex Police’s largest operations and overall it was a great success.”.
More than 400 police officers were on duty for what is the largest annual policing operation in East Sussex, with the British Transport Police providing support to Sussex Police
Two police bonfire liaison officers are assigned to each of the six participating bonfire societies to act as a communication link.
In Brighton thousands attended the fireworks display at the Racecourse and in Hove a big crowd watched the display at the Sussex County Cricket Ground in Eaton Road.