Half Way Hell At Fez

Five Downing students were viciously set upon in Fez on Monday night – for being out “in dress shirts.”

The students reached the club shortly after 11pm after enjoying a traditional half way hall dinner at college to mark the midpoint in their degrees, but were quickly attacked by a group of strangers, despite doing nothing to provoke them.

Dan Addis, one of the boys caught up in the assault, was punched in the face when trying to hold two men apart to calm the situation. He told The Tab: “It was clear that the aggressors were going for people in dress shirts. I was caught completely off guard.

You should be able to wear what you like, but if you want to be careful I would recommend against a Dinner Jacket on a night out.”

Louise Ripley-Duggan, a Downing student who went to Fez that night, agreed that students had not started anything, saying: “It all happened so fast – within five minutes. There were just people there who decided to punch everybody.”

While Addis ended up with a black eye and cut on the lip, others were more seriously injured. James Green, an Economics student, spent the night in hospital with a fractured cheekbone.

Speaking to The Tab, he said: “I didn’t see that much before I was punched. I was facing the other direction and when I turned around a guy just lashed out at the nearest person he could, which turned out to be me.”

Green was one of three taken to hospital, with the other two boys requiring stitches.

Fat Pops on Mondays is advertised by Fez as: “THE biggest weekly student night in Cambridge.”

Ian Freeman, consultant to Eclectic Clubs and Bars – the company that run Fez – confirmed there had been an incident, and expressed his sincere apologies. He also added, “We are working closely with the police…and our senior management is currently conducting a full internal investigation. We have passed our CCTV images of the offenders to the police, who are continuing to investigate their identity.”

Reaction to Fez from those students involved appears to have been largely positive. Green commented that the club paid for a taxi to take three of them to hospital, while an eyewitness reported to The Tab that the attackers were found and chucked out by staff.

The police were involved on the night and an investigation is ongoing, but in the meantime they have released a statement advising students: “not to loiter at or near to the doors of night clubs,” and to report “suspicious or potentially threatening activity” as soon as possible.

All of the students involved have been safely discharged from hospital.

News of the attack comes a week after Peas Hill, Cambridge was shown to be the 6th worst street in Britain for crimes, with 127 reported last December.