Does it really need 300+ police officers in full riot gear, dogs and helicopters to disperse a few hundred youngsters in a field?
Widely reported today is the 'clash' between police and revellers at an illegal rave in Essex on saturday night.
The mainstream press report that it was the alleged missiles thrown at police and the minor injuries they received which sparked their violent response.
What seems to have drawn considerably less attention are the injuries caused by the police themselves, to a group of partying kids, many of whom were less than compos mentis due to whatever they may have injested.
These included more than one instance of police dogs having been set on people, head injuries from batons, shields etc, and at least one eye-injury sustained requiring hospital attention.
Although we're told there were many police present and several ambulances, I saw not one ambulance, not one medic.
Despite the police's assertion that they were there to ensure the "peace and safety of the public" the revellers at least, it seems, were one section of the public whose safety did not seem of the remotest concern to the police.
It's also reported that 'a group of 40 or so revellers tried to cross the M11'. Now although I didnt see that, thats not to say it didnt happen, but I can say that if it did occur it certainly didnt happen until after the police had made their presence felt, and in spite of an access road tunnel beneath the motorway readily available for anyone who felt the need to be on the other side.
The legacy of Thatcher's Criminal Justice Bill has made many criminals of our nations children. These are the kids of ordinary families - brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, yet to see the police form up and prepare to charge, it looked more like a scene reminiscent of Gaza or Beirut, with the authorities hell-bent on crushing the resistance.
So why this disproportionate response?
Drugs? There'll be more drugs consumed at Reading and Leeds before breakfast than at the whole of saturdays party.
Trespass? Yes there were a few hundred people on an empty stubble field for a few hours
Safety? There was a greater danger after the police arrived than before.
Criminality? The fact that the most serious offence the police charged anyone with was Suspicion of Conspiracy to Cause a Public Nuisance, says it all really. I wonder if in fact, there really is any such offence.
There is, apparently, a concerted effort to crack down on illegal parties in east anglia, and indeed up and down the country.
The question is, why?
Saturday's party was within a few miles of Stanstead airport and, if current government assertions are to be believed, we are in the midst of a 'critical' terror alert.
If so, is it wise to divert so much police power from covering what surely must be a prime terrorist target? And for what? To stamp the jackboot of authority on a few kids having a dance in a field?
Something is seriously amiss in our country today, that these kids are dubbed criminals and confronted by the full ugly might of riot police law, while the real terrorists and criminals are gradually sauntering back from Barbados and the like, ready for the next round of International terrorism and criminality.
bLiar holds sway with one law for the rich for israel internationally, and here domestic policy does the same for poor people trying to entertain themselves, and therein lies the real crux.
This is about protecting corporate festivals and criminalising anyone who cant or wont pay to participate in them, and about demanding conformity, by force if necessary.
PAGAN CELT
The mainstream press report that it was the alleged missiles thrown at police and the minor injuries they received which sparked their violent response.
What seems to have drawn considerably less attention are the injuries caused by the police themselves, to a group of partying kids, many of whom were less than compos mentis due to whatever they may have injested.
These included more than one instance of police dogs having been set on people, head injuries from batons, shields etc, and at least one eye-injury sustained requiring hospital attention.
Although we're told there were many police present and several ambulances, I saw not one ambulance, not one medic.
Despite the police's assertion that they were there to ensure the "peace and safety of the public" the revellers at least, it seems, were one section of the public whose safety did not seem of the remotest concern to the police.
It's also reported that 'a group of 40 or so revellers tried to cross the M11'. Now although I didnt see that, thats not to say it didnt happen, but I can say that if it did occur it certainly didnt happen until after the police had made their presence felt, and in spite of an access road tunnel beneath the motorway readily available for anyone who felt the need to be on the other side.
The legacy of Thatcher's Criminal Justice Bill has made many criminals of our nations children. These are the kids of ordinary families - brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, yet to see the police form up and prepare to charge, it looked more like a scene reminiscent of Gaza or Beirut, with the authorities hell-bent on crushing the resistance.
So why this disproportionate response?
Drugs? There'll be more drugs consumed at Reading and Leeds before breakfast than at the whole of saturdays party.
Trespass? Yes there were a few hundred people on an empty stubble field for a few hours
Safety? There was a greater danger after the police arrived than before.
Criminality? The fact that the most serious offence the police charged anyone with was Suspicion of Conspiracy to Cause a Public Nuisance, says it all really. I wonder if in fact, there really is any such offence.
There is, apparently, a concerted effort to crack down on illegal parties in east anglia, and indeed up and down the country.
The question is, why?
Saturday's party was within a few miles of Stanstead airport and, if current government assertions are to be believed, we are in the midst of a 'critical' terror alert.
If so, is it wise to divert so much police power from covering what surely must be a prime terrorist target? And for what? To stamp the jackboot of authority on a few kids having a dance in a field?
Something is seriously amiss in our country today, that these kids are dubbed criminals and confronted by the full ugly might of riot police law, while the real terrorists and criminals are gradually sauntering back from Barbados and the like, ready for the next round of International terrorism and criminality.
bLiar holds sway with one law for the rich for israel internationally, and here domestic policy does the same for poor people trying to entertain themselves, and therein lies the real crux.
This is about protecting corporate festivals and criminalising anyone who cant or wont pay to participate in them, and about demanding conformity, by force if necessary.
PAGAN CELT
Comments
Hide the following 12 comments
party clampdown, not just this incident...
28.08.2006 18:54
plus is wasnt just the 38 or so people arrested at this party, others were injured and arrested at a rave near stroud when the cops charged in. other parties were also tackled.
changes to Public Entertainments License law has meant a clampdown on raves over the last year or so, with more arrests, equipment and vehicle confiscations, court cases and fines, as well as the new use of asbos against party people.
make no mistake this is a clampdown.
most parties go off every weekend without major incident, but many people knew the cops were out to make a point over the weekend, and that all too often means they crack skulls.
oldskl
A resident's response
28.08.2006 19:02
I appreciate that people only want to have a good time, and that the majority of people were no nuisance at all......but I also have a right to enjoy the peace and tranquility of where I choose to live without finding it impossible to park in my own village, and without having to watch people miturate on my pathway.
Marston
For goodness sake...!
29.08.2006 09:38
Naturally, this resulted in the Police deploying a large number of officers in PPE in order to disperse the crowd and sustaining a number of injuries as a result. Of course they went in hard and yes, I am sure that some excessive force was used on certain individuals. This is fair enough. Would you not act in a similar manner if being attacked by a mob!?
Having been to and organising many similar events in the past, I can honestly say that the Police have usually been pretty accepting and reasonable - most notably when 4 officers arrived at our party at a disused abbatoir, stayed for 10 mins, had a chat with a few of us (approx 60-100 in attendance) and then left us to it! The critical word is 'compromise' eg: agree to turn the music down at a certain time or somthing, be open with how many ppl are gonna turn up etc. They have a job to do at the end of the day.
The only thing that has been gained by your actions, you bloody idiots, is is to further jeopardise the future of raves and parties. Maybe next time the Police wont try the softly softly approach and go in hard first time around! (eg: Czek Fest!!) Did you know that you can very easily get a PEL (thats a Public Entertainment Licence) to allow parties up to 499 ppl. Oh, but that wouldnt be 'radical or anti-establishment enough for you lot now would it! It only takes a teeny weeny bit of organisation to make a great event and if that means some level of acquiescence with the authorities then so be it.
I wonder what's happened to the scene...I honestly do!!!
!?
WTF?!?
29.08.2006 12:05
Yes you village dwellers (and lord knows I have met enough villagers at raves to know they like a good loud nasty bash as well) have the right to avoid having your concrete and tar being pissed upon ... but not at the cost of silencing celebrations of life and music ... get a bucket of water (hint; animals piss all over the place ... gunna ban them?)
The fact that the police announced their intentions to 'crack down' this weekend should show the nonsense of suggesting that 'turning down the music' would have made them put away their hi-tech oppression gear and stop breaking heads ...
Because it was a politically motivated attack on OUR culture, we have decided to fight back.
The ground is being laid for a trap. The next 'big party' will spring a suprise from its depths (especially from me and my mates, two of which have the bruises and stitches from this event) ... because to do less will be to invite a similar response again and again and again.
No government has the right to legislate away my culture and the desire to party hard until the sun comes up ... because that part of us is FREE!
sound and fury
...
29.08.2006 17:28
!?
Whose "most accounts" are we to believe?
29.08.2006 18:50
"By most accounts the Police handled the situation very well"
I cant help but wonder whose most accounts youre referring to? That of the Daily Mail perhaps? or maybe the ITV news? or any other one of a myriad of bought and paid for whore media under the same orders as the capitalist footsoldiers doing the headcracking!
Were you there? I think not
And unless you were you are in no position to comment on exactly how it was policed.
To Marston - I have some sympathy, and I sense you think of yourself as a fair-minded and reasonable englishman/woman. I dont think I'd want to find someone relieving themselves up against my front door either.
However
The organisers had dug a latrine, providing for everybody's toilet needs.
There was ample parking available for anyone who turned up, on an unused field which had already had its crop gathered. That is, until the owner of an adjacent field plouged more than 100 yards of it to prevent anyone else driving to the site, presumably at the request of the police.
This in turn meant people parked their cars in the village and walked cross country to the party.
On returing to their cars later for food, tents etc, the police on the cordon told them that once out they would not get back in.
Result? A lot of drunk and stoned people, incapable of driving anywhere, stranded in your village.
I'll leave it to you to decide who exacerbated the situation.
Without such a confrontational approach as taken by the police, it seems likely you and your fellow villagers may never even have known there was a party going on.
Pagan Celt
A villager's second response
30.08.2006 06:31
In reply to Sound and Fury, I am perfectly aware that animals piss all over the place.......but do you really think it helps your cause to draw the link between animals which are not toilet trained and human beings?! Having worked as a studio engineer for 10 years, I'm all for celebrations of life and music, that's not my issue....... I'm not a NIMBY (except for using my "back yard" as a toilet!!) by any means, and as stated, the majority of people behaved decently, and did everything they could to dispel the "fear" that locals feel surrounds such an event. My comments are only to show that there are other issues to consider than a right to party.......It's not all black and white.
Marston
Is piss the cost of a party?
30.08.2006 06:50
I don't remember saying that I wanted to ban raves actually!
And why does it have to be the case that my pathway being piss free is "at the cost of silencing celebrations of life and music".......surely there must be some middle ground (possibly slightly soggy with piss!)
It is worth remembering that oppression and suppression come in many different guises, and they don't always come dressed up in suits or riot gear.....
Marston
i wasnt there......but.......
30.08.2006 14:03
ithink what you need to be aware of is that the change in PEL laws actually makes it more difficult for LEGAL events to take place let alone these so called illegal events...and there are many arguments against the illegality of young people gathering at night to dance around fire considering its actually something that humans around the world have done since the dawn of time--granted the introduction of amplified music is relatively new.
its perhaps about time people woke up and started to think for themselves rather than believing the nanny state lies and whore media bullshit that the corporation owned government want you to believe.....i just wonder how many people are fearful of hooded teenagers purely because they are told to be, or how many believe that immigration is the biggest threat to our society and the cause of a strain on our resources.(of course anyone who knows the facts will realise that due to our top heavy population we actually NEED 5 million more immigrant workers over the next ten years).......funnily enough a similar climate existed in germany prior to the second world war...lets not fall into that trap
luvlea
What a State!
03.09.2006 13:43
From what has been said, it sounds to me like the cops deliberately engineered this event to cause as much confrontation as possible with the local residents, so they can justify further repression of future parties, and maybe even justify Police Chiefs across the land to go on the record with the usual "We need to tighten up the law" type of statements.
In this country, I know for a fact that several Carnivals and Fetes have had to shut down DESPITE running peacefully for many years, DESPITE the very positive contributions these events have made to their communities, no thanks to the officiousness of local authorities, and the the way that both them and the Police are in effect asking for 'bribes' along the lines of "If you don't pay us X thousand pounds to police your event it can't go ahead, or we'll at least make it very difficult for you".
This also fits into the wider strategy in this so-called Land of Hope and Glory of clamping down on all forms public assembly, including demonstrations (see the one mile exclusion zone and 'permission to protest' mentality around Parlaiment Square).
The logic behind this presumably being that they don't want us to gather in large numbers, unless we're paying for the 'privilege' of doing so (paying festivals, gigs, conferences etc).
And of course, by it's nature, you can't get Tax revenue from a Free Party/Rave or protest, can you?
Let me give some examples...
Without fail, every year at Luton Carnival (or Notting Hill Carnival), you will see Riot Vans conspicuously parked within metres of the procession route, with very little attempt made to tactfully hide them down side streets, whereas, in Paris, when there are Carnivals, DESPITE what happened there earlier this year, you very rarely see any such brazen displays of power/force from the Gendarmes.
In fact, during procession times, the Gendarmes are as good as invisible (or at the least keeping a very low profile), despite the large numbers of civilians on the street, whereas here, you not only see the barriers along the route (which you will see in Paris too), but also hundreds, possibly thousands of cops standing in front of these barriers.
The difference couldn't be more stark.
My point is this;
Whereas in France, the Gendarmes on the whole RESPECT the crowd and their right to have a good time, and in so doing acknowledge this as a very useful safety valve for their citizens to let off some steam, here in the UK, the Police and local authorities seem to FEAR the crowd and want to control it, and inevitably get a negative response with their heavy handed tactics, therefore perpetuating the flawed logic that crowds are always to be seen as dangerous and should be either dispersed or controlled.
Ultimately, how you interpret events dictates how you deal with them.
If you always see things in a more negative way (as our authorities seem to in the UK), by proxy, you will use this world view to justify a more authoritarian approach, therefore eliciting the negative response you were expecting, which in turn reinforces your own negative feedback loop, and can justify further oppression.
Partygoa.
Police brutality pure and simple
05.09.2006 09:37
whassup?
Publish Please!
05.09.2006 23:38
These storys need to be told.
Partygoa.