Call to reinstate music festival

Brazilian band CSS are past headliners of the festival

Campaigners opposing the cancellation of a major music festival have presented a 1,000-name petition to the London Assembly (LA).

The city's mayor Boris Johnson called off the Rise Festival to save money. It cost £551,000 to organise last year.

It had been a regular event in Finsbury Park, north London, since 1996.

An LA spokesman said: "We think public money can be better used to fund a multitude of events and grassroots activities across London."

'Hasty' decision

More than 100,000 people attended 2008's Rise event, watching artists including De La Soul and Public Enemy.

London Assembly member Jeanette Arnold said: "I think the mayor's decision was wrong, hasty and revealed his ignorance of what the festival represented for 13 years before Boris.

"All we can hope is that the strength of feeling behind this campaign might just make him see the light."

In its place, the mayor launched Rhythm of London, a new two-day music event aimed at increasing musical opportunities for youngsters.

The LA spokesman said the cost of staging Rise was "an enormous sum of public money to spend on a single music event, particularly during a recession".

He added: "We have made it clear that we would be willing to look at holding a major music festival in the future, depending on whether we were able to find commercial funders."