A man is critically ill in Salford Royal Hospital after what police are calling “a brutal assault” at the Parklife Weekender festival.

According to the BBC, the 26 year old was knocked unconscious in front of the main stage at about 21:15 before being helped by two people, believed to be off-duty medical personnel.

Update: Manchester Evening News have reported that the victim was trying to protect his girlfriend from being repeatedly hit by a plastic toy. “Police are hunting a mixed race man”, they claim, “who is 6ft tall and aged about 25. He is ‘muscular’ and has short curly black hair which is shaved at the sides.”

Detective Inspector Mark Tootill of Greater Manchester Police said: “We believe that the victim may have been treated soon after the attack by two off-duty medical staff, who administered CPR before he was taken to the medical tent by security.”

“We are extremely keen to speak to those two people, or anyone else who believe they may have seen the attack take place.”

Parklife have also released a statement on the attack urging witnesses to come forward:

“We pride ourselves on a history of Parklife Weekender without any incidents. We regret that an isolated incident has taken place at this year’s event, however medics were on the scene within minutes of it taking place. “We will update as soon as we can and we are in constant contact with the medical services and police to help as much as possible. We urge festival goers to help the police identify the individual involved in the incident and contact them if they have any information at all.”

In a separate incident, two people were arrested at the festival after two men were stabbed during a fight. One victim was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, while the other was treated at the on-site medical facility.

Parklife Weekender took place in Manchester’s Heaton Park on June 7 and 8, with performances coming from Disclosure, Snoop Dogg and more.