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Campaigners are calling for a huge north London music festival to be axed after it was beset by rampaging gatecrashers last year.

Residents say the Wireless festival brought "scary" disorder to Finsbury Park in July 2015 and also left the green space in tatters, with the ground looking like a “desert” and strewn with laughing gas canisters and broken glass.

The festival was attended by 50,000 people each day and featured acts such as Drake, David Guetta and Nicki Minaj.

But it hit the headlines for the wrong reasons after large crowds of youths were filmed repeatedly trying to break into the event, with many successfully storming through fences.

One shocking video showed a lone police officer attempting to hold off a crowd of would-be gatecrashers with a baton.

At least eight people were arrested during the course of the event, including for knife possession and actual bodily harm.

Now the Friends of Finsbury Park are leading a campaign against plans for this year's festival, which they say is oversized, attracts anti-social behaviour and causes their windows to shake from the booming noise.

They also feel it is unfair to exclude local families from such a large area of the park with unsightly fencing they claim spoils the atmosphere.

Tom Palin, 47, the group's chairman, told the Standard: "Last year the event caused severe damage to the fabric of Finsbury Park.

"It turned the grass into desert scrubland which stayed that way for months. It encloses a third of the park in a huge sheet metal fence, locking out families.

"It's unbelievable that it's allowed to happen. There were problems with break-ins and public disorder last year, it's a scary situation.

"It's a horrible thing to happen in your local park and it doesn't feel very safe or controlled."

The organisers recently applied to Haringey council, which manages the park, for permission to stage the event again on July 8, 9 and 10.

In a formal objection letter, the Friends group said stewards had privately admitted feeling "intimidated and unsafe" by the large crowds trying to break in.

"We also strongly refute [the organisers'] assertion that they can effectively police the lengthy perimeter fence," they added.

"How many police would it require to effectively secure the lengthy perimeter?"

Local MPs David Lammy, for Tottenham, and Catherine West, for Hornsey and Wood Green, have both voiced worries about the festival.

Mr Lammy, who complained last year that the park was left looking like the "Serengeti", said he was “deeply concerned about the environmental damage and significant loss of amenity” for residents.

Ms West penned a letter to the council raising a series of concerns, including complaints about rubbish being thrown into front gardens last year and people even using them as toilets.

The festival’s organisers and Haringey council have been approached for comment.