LONDON -- Police Monday held 46 men and five women after a big 'peace' celebration among Hells Angels motorcE:le gangs turned into a bloody free-for-all in which two bikers were stabbed to death.
Officers questioned the gang members at six police stations in towns across the Thames River valley west of London and three other victims of the roadside brawl remained hospitalized in 'stable condition,' police said.
Authorities put 70 police officers into the investigation and they were hunting other bikers involved in the fatal party.
Police identified Michael Harrison, 27, and Colin Hunting, 32, as the two men who died Sunday when the motorcE:le clans wielding chains, baseball bats, knives and axes and numbering up to 150 strong clashed in the usually sleepy village of Cookham 24 miles from the capital.
'The first anyone knew of the trouble was when the loud rock music suddenly stopped and gave way to shrill screaming,' said one woman who lives nearby.
Inspector Graham Barnard said police considered the deaths murder. But other police sources said no charges against the people being held were expected to be brought until Tuesday.
Police said the 48-hour 'Angels' party that began Friday was meant to commemorate the 25th annniversary of the founding of the Windsor district chapter of the Hells Angels.
The Windsor group had been considered renegades because they had refused to join the overall Angels' England federation thatincludes chapters from other regions and there had already been violence three years ago between the factions, reports said, and numerous members were imprisoned.
The 'run' in Cookham was considered 'peace-making' but one participant was quoted by the British press as saying 'There is pure hate between some of these groups and they came armed to the teeth.'
News reports said that other cE:le groups including 'Satan's Slaves' from the county of Devon in southwest England as well as 'Road Rats' from London were also involved in the fighting.
'Obviously there was a disagreement but we cannot yet say what it was,' Barnard said.
Police first got word of Sunday's violence after the two bodies were dumped at local hospitals.
The Hell's Angels motorcE:le club, originally founded in the United States, became established in England in the mid-1960s and at one time had as many as 40 area chapters, reports said.
