World

Solstice Celebration Canceled

June 21, 1999 / 9:16 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Hundreds of people broke through the barriers and invaded the prehistoric Stonehenge monument Monday to observe the summer solstice, prompting police to cancel a planned Druid celebration.

Police in riot gear evicted about 400 people who had pushed through the perimeter fence before dawn and occupied the stones.

Twenty-three people were arrested. Police responded by closing the monument to the limited number of Druids who had been granted prior access to watch as the sun rose on the year's longest day.

"Though the behavior was provocative, police officers were able to move these people back to the road," Wiltshire Police Superintendent Andy Hollingshead said. "However, they had sufficiently disrupted the morning to mean special access had to be canceled."

Revelers were banned from holding solstice ceremonies at the 5,000-year-old Stonehenge site in the late 1980s after clashes with police and damage to the site.

But last year, for the first time in a decade, English Heritage, which owns the site, allowed 100 people to gather within the encircling rocks at dawn to celebrate the summer solstice as part of a step toward admitting larger crowds.

This year, 150 people were given access to carry out celebrations and rituals for the summer solstice, but that was canceled after the crowd rushed the site.

Kevin Carlyon, head of the British White Witches and one of those who had been given special access to the monument, said about 80 feet of fence was broken down and a woman danced nude on the stones.

"Stonehenge should be a place of worship. It is not for sex, drugs and rock and roll," she said.

But another person, Simon Sturrit, denied that the people who gained access to the site had caused any trouble or damage.

"We came here to enjoy ourselves and to watch the rising of the sun," he said.

Hollingshead said police planned a large presence at Stonehenge again Monday night.

On the other side of the world, they are celebrating midwinter in Antarctica. Click here for more on that celebration.