US: Ravers against the machine – July 2002 Ravers against the machine
By The Washington Post - Thursday, 17 July, 2002
Copyright: The Washington Post
Two young women on an urgent mission have been lugging boxes into the offices of U.S. senators this week. The boxes contain petitions an inch thick, one for each senator. Nearly 10,000 signatures were collected over the Internet in five days.
The petitions declare: "This bill is a serious threat to civil liberties, freedom of speech and the right to dance."
Look out, Congress: The ravers are coming.
"We're offended by the fact they're blackballing an entire musical genre," said Amanda Huie, checking senators' names off her list Tuesday afternoon.
The genre in question is electronic dance music, which fans enjoy at all-night parties called raves. Legislation in Congress could hold promoters responsible if people attending the events use illegal drugs such as Ecstasy, the party drug frequently associated with raves.
The Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act of 2002 -- or the RAVE Act -- has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee and is on the consent calendar, meaning it could receive final approval without a roll call vote at any time. When he introduced the bill in June, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) said "most raves are havens for illicit drugs," and congressional findings submitted with the bill label as drug paraphernalia such rave mainstays as bottled water, "chill rooms" and glow sticks.
The bill would expand the existing federal crack house law, which makes it a felony to provide a space for the purpose of illegal drug use, to cover promoters of raves and other events.
Another bill pending in the House -- the Clean, Learn, Educate, Abolish, Neutralize and Undermine Production (CLEAN-UP) of Methamphetamines Act, introduced by Rep. Doug Ose (R-Calif.) -- goes further. It would hold concert promoters in violation if they "reasonably ought to know" that someone will use an illegal drug during an event.
The House bill has 67 sponsors but has languished in committee since February, while in one month the RAVE Act -- sponsored by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) -- has sailed smoothly to the brink of approval.
Caught by surprise, some ravers briefly considered a more theatrical protest on the Hill, perhaps showing off totems of their culture -- rainbow hair, baggy pants, extended trance jams and those controversial glow sticks. But no. This is Washington, and ravers know the folkways. Huie, dressed quietly in slacks and shirt, said people from 49 states signed the petition. (Ravers must be scarce in North Dakota.)
"This is a petition about S. 2633," Huie told receptionists in office after office, referring to the bill number with insider aplomb. She is the marketing director of Buzzlife Productions, a Washington promoter.
Biden's staff has been surprised, too -- by the sudden outcry. "We thought this would be an innocuous bill that everybody would rally in support of," said Alan Hoffman, Biden's chief of staff.
After all, the bill merely adjusts the wording of the so-called crack house law. For example, crack houses are fixed indoor locations; the RAVE Act would also cover temporary outdoor venues.
So what?
"It violates the First Amendment," said Marv Johnson, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Johnson argues that while there is no constitutional right to smoke crack, there is, in fact, a right to dance. Music and dance are protected forms of free expression, he said. By extending the crack house law to dance parties, the RAVE Act would discourage promoters from sponsoring this kind of art, he said.
The ACLU was caught as flat-footed as the ravers, and is seeking a senator to put a "hold" on the bill, to get it off the consent calendar and force a roll call vote.
Biden rejects the ACLU's characterization. The issue is the drugs, he said, not the music. The bill was prompted by unsuccessful prosecutions of rave promoters under the crack house law. Introducing the bill, Biden said Ecstasy is responsible for thousands of overdoses and some deaths, and its abuse by teenagers has jumped 71 percent since 1999. He said police investigations in several cities demonstrate that raves are a favorite place to buy, sell and take Ecstasy tablets.
Some promoters distribute fliers bearing pictures of pills or argot for Ecstasy such as "E" or "X" or "Rollin' " -- evidence that doing drugs is part of the purpose of those raves, Biden said. Under his bill, only promoters who stage events for that purpose would be prosecuted.
But that may not be much of a safeguard for legitimate promoters, according to the ACLU and rave advocates. The congressional findings attached to the bill bluntly state that "the trafficking and use of 'club drugs' . . . is deeply embedded in the rave culture." The findings become part of the legislative history of the bill and could support a prosecutor's claim that any rave should be suspect, Johnson said. The RAVE Act provides for civil penalties of $250,000 or twice the gross proceeds of the rave, requiring a lower burden of proof than the crack house law's criminal penalties, Johnson said.
"The way the system really works is, you arrest and accuse and then you fight it out in court," said Lonnie Fisher, president of Ultraworld Productions in Baltimore. "They could break the back of a small promoter financially."
But Grassley, in a statement yesterday, said the RAVE Act is an appropriate extension of the crack house law: "There are people who host raves so they can sell Ecstasy, just as there are people who rent houses so they can sell drugs. We've seen raves advertised as safe, alcohol-free and drug-free places for kids to socialize and dance. If this is what the promoter actually intends, then they don't have anything to worry about."
Ravers seem most offended by what they say is another smear to the reputation of their strobe-lit scene. They contend that police, politicians and media have exaggerated the amount of criminal activity in rave culture since it began more than a decade ago. There are plenty of drugs at rock shows, too, ravers claim, yet no senator has proposed a ROCK Act.
"This bill seems to imply that people go to raves to do drugs, and the music is there to accentuate the drug experience," said Luciana Lopez of Washington, who is protesting the legislation. A copy editor for a science journal, she said she neither drinks nor uses drugs -- but does wear green and blue wigs to raves.
"This culture is really important to me," she said. She described the euphoria of dancing for hours with people who may start as strangers but who by early the next morning are exchanging hugs and phone numbers. "It makes you feel part of a community," she said.
The water and the "chill rooms" are for cooling off after dancing, she said, not because so many ravers are overheated on Ecstasy. And the glow sticks look cool.
Lopez and many Washington ravers are found Friday nights at Buzz, the weekly rave party sponsored by Buzzlife at Nation, the club on Half Street SE. The cover charge is $15 before 11 p.m., $20 after, and the dancing stops at 6 a.m., according to Huie.
Three years ago, a local television station went undercover at Buzz and broadcast alleged drug use. In the welter of bad publicity, Buzz temporarily shut down. The ravers claimed the discovery of drugs was blown out of proportion. Now ravers must empty their pockets at the door, according to Huie.
Congress has taken up the issue of rave culture at least once before. A year ago, as part of a celebration of Detroit's tricentennial, the House and Senate passed a resolution congratulating the city for, among other things, helping to pioneer techno, the electronic dance music popular at raves.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
UK: Travellers face eviction powers – July 2002 Travellers face eviction powers
By BBC News - Friday, 5 July, 2002
Copyright: BBC News
Police could be given new powers against unauthorised traveller camps in what ministers are calling a "radical overhaul" of existing measures.
Travellers can currently only be evicted if there has been criminal damage or anti-social behaviour on campsites.
The new powers could be used without that condition but only in areas where local councils have provided temporary sites for regular travellers.
Ministers are planning to help councils fund new temporary camps, as well as continuing to help refurbishing existing local authority sites.
Unauthorised camps have frequently caused rows between travellers and angry local residents in many parts of the UK.
Help for local councils
Authorised council sites have also prompted planning rows.
Full details of the plans, published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Home Office, will be announced in the autumn.
The government is stressing that "tough" new police eviction powers must be linked to the availability of legal sites.
That money is set to be put forward in 2003 along with a new look to the next round of the gypsy site refurbishment programme.
The government has, however, yet to say how much money it will provide.
New national guidance is being put out on dealing with unauthorised camping.
No 'blind eye'
Ministers say those guidelines will be shaped by the views of residents, business people and farmers, as well as travellers.
A government spokesman said: "The new guidance will in particular emphasise the need for effective local strategies."
Those strategies needed to make clear where police and local councils took the lead.
Housing Minister Tony McNulty said the plans would help councils deal with the problem of unauthorised camps.
"Our strategy is balanced and fair," said Mr McNulty. "
"The same standard of behaviour of travellers should be the same as that expected of the settled community and does not mean turning a blind eye to anti-social behaviour."
Room for caravans
In January this year there were 325 local council traveller camp sites with room for more than 5,000 caravans.
The government says that national network can accommodate "just under half of gypsy caravans".
But local councils are also told to consider providing places with basic waste, water and toilet facilities where travellers who visit their areas regularly can stop.
Police recently moved on travellers from land owned by exclusive Berkshire school Eton College because they believed there had been criminal damage.
Three years ago, then Home Secretary Jack Straw was accused of racism by travellers' leaders.
Mr Straw has provoked a storm of controversy after suggesting groups of travellers were trading on a sentimental "gypsy" image while committing serious crimes.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
UK: Rave chaos at old airfield – July 2002 Rave chaos at old airfield
By thisisdevon - 01 July 2002
Copyright: thisisdevon
Police turned away around 5,000 people from an illegal rave on a disused Devon airfield where hundreds more had camped out.
About 150 officers were drafted in over the weekend to stop the revellers, who had been drawn to the area for the Glastonbury Festival, invading Smeatharpe Airfield near Honiton.
And today police patrols were on the lookout in Somerset for travellers leaving Glastonbury and heading to the airfield.
On Saturday night police estimated around 700 people were camped out on the private land near the village.
By this morning there were still around 200 revellers and police were hoping the unofficial gathering would end later today.
They would not say whether they were planning to remove the revellers by force, but confirmed officers were still at the scene and were monitoring the situation.
New security measures at the Glastonbury Festival meant thousands of people, particularly travellers, looked for alternative venues in the South West. Two years ago the festival was overrun by gatecrashers and organisers were ordered to increase security to stop dangerous overcrowding of the site.
This year people without tickets were faced with an inpenetrable security fence and were turned away.
At the illegal gathering at Smeatharpe - which had been advertised on the internet - nine people were arrested for possession of controlled drugs, assault, obstructing a police officer, theft of a vehicle, disqualified driving and drink driving.
A van driver allegedly drove at speed towards a BBC film crew half a mile from the site.
All roads were sealed off but 200 vehicles were parked at the airfield.
Police had to remove six vehicles, including a double decker bus, for causing an obstruction.
They also received complaints from residents about noise and people in their gardens, but overall problems were described as "low-key".
A police helicopter flew over the site broadcasting a message telling people to leave.
Resident Andrew Longbottom, who lives at Rose Cottage in the lane directly alongside the airfield, feared it might become a repeat of a rave 11 years ago.
He said: "I was here 11 years ago when they smashed all my lorries up. They've already ripped the fence down and damaged some of my property.
"Its quite frightening because there is very little you can do to stop them. They are pinching property and pinching fuel.
"And there are definitely drugs. I've seen needles strewn all over the fields.
"And then there is the problem with human excrement because there are no toilets.
"The worst of it all is some of them don't just stay for the weekend. Last time an injunction had to be raised to get them to shift."
Brenda Brooks, who lives a couple of hundred yards along the road, was also concerned the ravers would get out of hand.
She said: "I do object to them being here. There is no evidence that they are aggressive yet but once they start popping too many pills who knows what will happen."
Other residents though were less concerned.
Richard Price, who lives 400 yards away from the rave site, said: "It can be a bit noisy but they generally keep themselves to themselves. My only concern is how they leave the site. If they leave it clean I'm happy for them to be here."
Farmer Keith Sparks, who farms a mile from the site at Churchingford, said: "It feels like we have been invaded.
"It's all right if these things are organised properly, but this has caught us on the hop."
Mr Sparks said the travellers had parked their vehicles on the narrow lanes, making it difficult for his tractor and trailer to pass.
Some travellers drove down his private farm lane, cut through a padlock and drove into one of his fields in a bid to get to the site without encountering the police blockade.
He added: "I had livestock in those fields and they left the gate open.
"They had moved an old dung spreader to get through.
"My son and I did not want to confront them on our own, so we asked the police to help.
"I have lived here all my life and remember the last rave, but it wasn't as serious as this."
One of the ravers, Jim Thompson, who had travelled down from Bristol and came to Smeatharpe after failing to get into Glastonbury Festival, said: "We're only here to party and enjoy ourselves. I don't see why people object. Most of us are peace-loving and we just want a good time."
Most of the ravers learned about the Devon event on a website. Buzz Pritchard, from Cheltenham, said: "It's an alternative to Glastonbury and we found out about it on the web. I think the police presence is just making things worse. What's the point of sealing off the roads when we can just park elsewhere and walk over fields and through rivers to get here."
Police press liaison officer Sergeant Dave Anning said: "Our primary concern is public safety. There are no facilities or even toilets down there. But over 100,000 people have been turned away from Glastonbury and we want to prevent them using this site as an alternative."
Police have the powers to remove people from the site under legislation introduced in the 1990s designed to outlaw similar raves and large gatherings.
http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/index.jsp
UK: Ravers leave behind mess on Dorset site – July 2002 Ravers leave behind mess on Dorset site
By meridian news - June 24, 2002
Copyright: meridian news
Up to 300 new age travellers have now left a forest in Dorset, having spent the weekend staging an illegal rave.
Sixty large vehicles moved onto the farm land next to an area of special scientific interest. Once the police moved in, they packed up their sound systems, leaving behind a trail of rubbish.
One farmer has seen his hay crop trampled into the ground, along with fences broken and rubbish strewn across his field.
Based next to an area of special scientific interest, environmentalists are angry at the destruction caused - and were fearful of the potential fire risks.
Roads were blocked off yesterday, for fear more travellers would arrive, while the police helicopter circled the area. Eventually the travellers agreed to leave the site, but not before the field had been trampled into the ground.
Several camps have been set up in Dorset over recent months, but at present the law does not allow the police to make travellers responsible for the damage they cause.
http://www.meridiantv.com/news/
UK: Rave woman pensioner to pay £35,000 over harassment of neighbours – June 2002 Rave woman aged 75 has to pay £35,000 over her harassment of neighbours
By Electronic Telegraph - Monday 11 June 2002
Copyright: Electronic Telegraph
A pensioner who was said to have allowed her home to be used for illegal raves and cannabis growing, and was suspected of eating her neighbours' koi carp as part of a campaign of harassment against them, was ordered to pay them £35,000 in damages and costs by a court yesterday.
A judge said the dispute between Ellen Jones, 75, and Mark and Jane Fowler was the most acrimonious he had come across.
He issued an injunction against the pensioner forbidding her from harassing, threatening, assaulting or otherwise interfering with Mr Fowler, 45, an accountant, and his 53-year-old wife.
Miss Jones, a former Land Army girl who manages a 90-acre farm in Newchapel, Surrey, left Lewes County Court, East Sussex, unrepentant despite the judge telling her that she should patch up her long-running quarrel.
Each had sued the other for damages. The judge, Recorder Christopher Morris-Coole, found largely in favour of the Fowlers and, in a 26-page judgment, said: "Miss Jones gives the impression of a determined, single-minded veteran of country life who makes ends meet as best she can."
But he added that she had "a cleverness which is not lacking in guile and I am convinced that she would be an artful and spiteful adversary".
"She has her own, outmoded idea as to how life should be on a farm although it has been made clear to her many times by the courts, local authorities, the environmental agency, the police, her neighbours and others that she has to observe certain standards."
The Fowlers, who had sued for £75,000 damages for harassment and loss of value to their £375,000 15th Century farmhouse, said afterwards they hoped that they and their children, aged eight and 13, could now lead a normal neighbourly existence.
"We are going to try to make peace with Miss Jones, but it's up to her," said Mrs Fowler.
Miss Jones said: "I have done nothing wrong. They are the problem." The judge ordered her to pay £10,200 damages and two thirds of the cost of the case, estimated at £25,000.
At an earlier hearing, the Fowlers said Miss Jones indulged in anti-social practices including lighting acrid bonfires, throwing dog faeces at their fence, obstructing their driveway and ignoring court orders.
They suspected her of being behind the disappearance of their koi carp, believing that she had fried them for supper.
Miss Jones claimed that the Fowlers trespassed on her property, invaded her privacy by installing CCTV cameras and had not paid their share of water supply bills.
The judge ordered the Fowlers to pay Miss Jones nearly £1,200 in connection with the water supply and £1 nominal damages for trespassing on her property when reversing out of the driveway.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
UK: Villagers angry as Jubilee free party attracts 10,000 people – June 2002 Villagers fury as 10,000 party at illegal rave
By thisissomerset - Monday June 03 2002
Copyright: thisissomerset
Up to 10,000 revellers were partying at an illegal rave on a Somerset beach last night.
Villagers fear the event, which forced a Jubilee celebration to be cancelled, could last until Wednesday.
Ravers started to pour on to Steart beach, near Hinkley Point nuclear power station, at 4.30pm on Saturday, causing chaos on the roads.
Police closed roads leading to the beach but party-goers abandoned their cars in the narrow lanes and reached the site by foot. Pounding music kept residents awake throughout the night and by mid-afternoon yesterday it had started again.
Hundreds of tents, coaches and even double-decker buses filled the beach and cars were parked in laybys on several of the approach roads.
There were no facilities, including toilets, on site.
Residents had planned to celebrate the Golden Jubilee by lighting a beacon on the beach, but the plan had to be scrapped.
After a rave last year, scores of syringes and piles of litter were left on the beach. One Steart resident, who did not want to be named, said:
"It has been well planned because there are people there from abroad.
"The police blocked the road and some residents had to stay in bed and breakfast because they could not get back to their homes."
"It has completely ruined our [Jubilee] celebrations."
Sedgemoor district councillor for Cannington and Quantocks, which covers Steart, Lillian Cartwright, said: "It's a thing we always dread. It has happened before and the music has been appalling. There have been cars rushing about everywhere and everyone is worried because you always get some undesirables.
"I'm not against young people enjoying themselves, but you always worry about what's going to be missing the next day."
A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said arrests had been made but could not give any further details.
http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/index.jsp
World: Israelis dance for peace – June 2002 Israelis dance for peace
By news.com.au - 24 May, 2002
Copyright: news.com.au
IN In a fresh twist for Israel's peace movement, thousands of young people put on their dancing trainers in Tel Aviv for the first "rave" to protest against the occupation of Palestinian lands.
The dance party last night at the plaza of the city's art museum drew more than 3,000 people, mostly twenty-somethings who want a peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but find the usual slogan-shouting protests too boring, organisers said.
"For many people in Israel, having a left-wing agenda is really not cool. It's supposedly one of the most naive things people can think," said one of the protesters, 25-year-old Aviad.
Like many of the others dancing around him, the musician said he had refused to serve in the army because of the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which has sparked a ferocious 20-month uprising by the Palestinian side.
"There's nothing strange here except there's a war going on a few kilometres away from here," he said.
The protesters danced for several hours to thumping techno music played from a DJ booth on a stage beside two large video screens which showed spliced images of the occupation and violent children's cartoons.
Many wore the outlandish or revealing outfits which have become standard at raves around the world.
Several ravers dressed in mock army uniforms walked on stilts and fired water pistols at the sweating dancers.
A macabre "Miss Israel" paraded through the crowd with a "bouquet" of flowers, a plastic gun and a stump of a mannequin's leg painted with fake blood.
About halfway into the protest, a minute of silence was held in memory of the more than 2,000 people on both sides who have died during the current uprising.
"Young people are fed up with politics. This experiment was trying to bring politics (into their lives) through the back door," said Dima, a 30-year-old graduate student with spiked black hair and a nose ring.
"The rave idea brought many people here today who are not identified with activism, to bring in clubbers and ecstasy eaters," he said.
Rave parties have become infamous for their association with the party drug ecstasy, but organisers had stressed drugs would not be tolerated.
Scores of police were also deployed in the area to protect demonstrators from attacks by either Jewish extremists or Palestinian militants.
Later that night a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up outside a nightclub in southern Tel Aviv after being fired at by a security guard, injuring two people, according to Israeli army radio.
On Wednesday night, a Palestinian suicide bomber also killed two people and wounded dozens of others in an attack near a park in a suburb of the city, while another bomb set fire to a tanker truck in the country's main fuel depot in a populated area just to the north.
"After the terrorist actions which took place last night and this morning, it's good to see people still wanted to come out," said one of the organisers, 25-year-old law student Eyel Oron.
Both the organisers and ravers also said they hoped the protest would add momentum to the peace movement, which had been flagging after a wave of devastating suicide bombings earlier this year.
But the left-wing groups made a strong comeback earlier this month after the army's Operation Defensive Shield against militant groups in the West Bank which marked its largest military offensive since the 1967 war.
More than 60,000 demonstrators turned out in Tel Aviv earlier this month for the largest peace rally since the outbreak of the intifada in September 2000.
"Israel has many people who are involved (in the peace movement), but as more time passes they become apathetic. You go to protests and it's very serious and heavy and maybe this is a chance to bring a little light into it," said Andrew Lanezos, a 29-year-old doctoral student in anthropology.
"The hope is that more and more people might join parties and realise there's more to life than killing and fighting," he said.
http://www.news.com.au/
UK: 500 Ravers wreck havoc – May 2002 500 ravers wreck havoc
By Stamford Today - Monday May 7 2002
Copyright: Stamford Today
UP TO 500 illegal ravers wreaked havoc after they broke down barricades and partied on private land.
The ravers wrecked a car, smashed windows and scrawled graffiti on buildings at a disused bomb depot south of Stamford at the weekend.
And deafening music from the all-night rave kept residents awake three miles away in King s Cliffe.
Police were called to the disturbance by farmer Bernard Howard, who rents the land, but only officers from the neighbouring Cambridgeshire force arrived to deal with matter.
Mr Howard is now writing to the chief constable of Northamptonshire Police demanding action to stop another rave happening.
Mr Howard, a parish councillor and Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator, said: "We ve had about eight or 10 of these raves in the past year, but this is the first time they have put a step wrong.
"What they have done this time is a criminal act.
"They have smashed windows, sprayed graffiti on the buildings, flattened the 6ft mound of dirt we put in place to stop them getting on the site and broken padlocks on the gate.
"The only good thing they did was bag up the bottles and beer cans.
"Vehicles were going round the village trying to find the party, and villagers were disturbed all through the night.
"One of our main concerns is young people in the village will start to get involved.
"I have lived here all my life and these people are coming in from outside and destroying our village.
"We need to put an end to this now before it gets out of control."
The party started at about 7pm on Saturday with the last few ravers leaving at noon on Sunday. It is estimated 500 people from across the country attended the event just off the A47.
A Northamptonshire Police spokesman said officers from the neighbouring county had dealt with the matter because they had been following party revellers to the site.
He added: "We did not have the power to go in and break it up as we had received no official complaint from a member of the public about a disturbance.
"But as a result of this incident we will be talking to the local authority and land owner about additional security on the site."
http://www.stamfordtoday.co.uk/
UK: No-one acting to stop Tolworth style events from happening again – May 2002 No-one acting to stop raves
By thisislocallondon - Wednesday 03 April 2002
Copyright: thisislocallondon
Assurances have been sought from the Metropolitan Police that another situation like the three-day illegal rave in Tolworth will not happen.
Sutton and Cheam MP Paul Burstow was inundated with complaints from bleary-eyed residents in Worcester Park and Cheam following the massive outdoor party in September.
Around 3,000 revellers descended on Tolworth Court Farm for the three-day illegal party, where seven sound stages pumped out music so loud it could be heard as far away as Ashtead.
Thousands of sleepless residents jammed council switchboards while police fielded hundreds of calls from people demanding the racket was turned off.
The event drew fierce criticism of the police who chose not to shut the rave down immediately, prompting claims there were not enough officers on duty to deal with the situation a charge hotly denied by the Met.
However, on Tuesday night Sutton and Cheam MP Paul Burstow and his Kingston and Surbiton counterpart Ed Davey met with Home Office minister Charles Clarke to discuss the police response.
The pair were told there would be a review of how police monitor planning of illegal parties on the net.
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/
UK: Police move to shut illegal rave – April 2002 Police move to shut illegal rave
By BBC News
Copyright: BBC News
Up to a 100 police officers moved in to shut down an illegal rave in Essex over the weekend.
The party-goers drove in formation around Colchester, communicating via text messages until details of the event became known.
The hundreds of cars were led in convoy down the A12 towards the rave in a method designed to outwit the police.
By midnight the ravers had occupied a disused warehouse in Chelmsford.
One of the group said: "Every Pulse 8 I come to, I have a good time. It only costs me a couple of quid to get in. All the other big clubs charge £15 to get in. All we're doing is having a good time."
Another raver said: "We're our own police here, we don't need the police. We were stopped by the police and I couldn't understand why. It's just to stop us having a good time."
The event was run without Health and Safety approval, and without a public entertainment licence.
One of the organisers, Matt said: "I was just driving around and the building was open. I saw it from the side of the road where they cut the hole in the wall, and I thought it was perfect.
"I had a peek in here. It just had rave written all over it. We've got all these people together to come and enjoy themselves to dance music, and this is what it's about."
The police arrived at 3am to break the party up. Inspector Tony Dale said: "What's happened this evening is that the group known as Pulse 8 have held another, technically it is an unlicenced public event, popularly known as a rave.
"We've been around the building with the fire safety officers. They've advised us that the building is wholly unsafe for what it's being used for."
The police requested that the organisers close the rave down, which they did. They are are now considering whether to bring charges. The ravers say they cannot wait until the next time.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
UK: Ravers party on as police admit they are powerless to pull the plug – April 2002 Ravers party on as police admit they are powerless to pull the plug
From the Leatherhead Advertiser - Apr 18 2002
Copyright: Leatherhead Advertiser
Police say they are powerless to stop a group of 200 revellers who have held two all-night raves in the past fortnight. One took place on Ranmore last weekend while another was held in a field in Coldharbour on Saturday April 6.
Although the group of youngsters meets in locations which are tucked away and so cause minimal noise disturbance from the music, residents are suffering sleepless nights as people come and go until the early hours.
The rave in Coldharbour, held in a field off Wolvens Lane, is said by villagers to have gone on until after 7am the following morning.
Jenny Richards, chairman of Capel parish council, which includes the villages of Coldharbour and Beare Green, said: "It was an absolute disaster for residents. People started walking up through the village to the rave at about 11pm and they didn't come out again until 6-7am, when there was all the noise of cars and taxis leaving."
District councillor Neil Maltby (Con, Leith Hill) who lives just outside Coldharbour, said: "It was still going at 7.30am on the Sunday.
"I came home after an evening out at 2am and there were a number of groups still walking up the hill. Driving up there was nerve-wracking."
Mr Maltby said he counted 28 cars parked in Coldharbour Lane and many more around the Plough pub and in Logmore Lane.
Although police are concerned that the mass gatherings are causing residents anxiety, they cannot close down the raves once they are assembled.
Inspector Sandy Horvarth of Dorking Police explained: "The only offence under the Public Order Act they might be committing is one of trespass. But when they are in woods or a field in the middle of nowhere and aren't disturbing anyone directly there's nothing we can do."
But he insisted that the ravers - mostly aged between 17 and 22 - are cooperative, do not leave a mess and usually negotiate with officers to finish the party at an earlier hour.
"They had a bonfire in Coldharbour because it was cold, so the fire service went up there. But there was no trouble and the crew had a cup of tea with them before putting out the fire safely at about 8am."
The inspector also stressed that little alcohol has been seen at the events and that there is no indication of any drug abuse.
"But we obviously can't rule that out," he admitted.
The rave on Ranmore at the weekend was held after organisers' plans to gather up at Coldharbour for the second successive week were foiled.
"We sent officers up to Coldharbour so they moved it to Ranmore," added Mr Horvarth.
"They have 50 or 60 sites in Surrey as well as two websites and they can switch sites at the last minute.
"All it takes is a couple of calls on their mobile phones, and unfortunately we haven't got the resources to cover all possibilities."
Mr Horvarth said police are working hard to monitor the websites and pubs which the groups of friends are known to mix at prior to the raves.
"The key to tackling this is by disrupting them," he continued. "They are not anti-social and are not trying to disturb communities, and the only problem is cars whizzing through all night."
He explained that police would continue to disrupt the groups, as they did when sending people away from the A25 end of Coldharbour.
"We told them the party was over and wouldn't let anyone else up there.
"We shall be doing our best to stop the raves happening now the warmer weather is on its way."
UK: Rave parties deterrent – February 2002 Rave parties deterrent
By thisislocallondon - Friday 15 February 2002
Copyright: thisislocallondon
Licensing laws could be used to stop raves in mid-Essex.
The police officer in charge of dealing with the illicit parties in the Braintree District, Insp Joe Wrigley, based at Dunmow, has met with licensing and environmental health officers from both district councils and a Crown Prosecution Service representative.
Together, they will make plans ready for the rave season, which usually starts during the next month
"We are collectively finding a way of doing something under current legislation which would be a deterrent," he said.
Admitting that it would not be as effective as a complete review of current legislation, he said the organisations are working together to try and prevent any further unlicensed events.
They will be using possible breaches of public entertainment legislation under licensing law.
"Both district councils are keen to do something positive about this problem.
"We will have police officers available and we will go to the site and we will hand all the evidence to prosecution officers," he added.
Under current public order legislation police officers are able to stop raves in the open air but not in a building.
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/
UK: Yard chief: Anarchy is attractive – February 2002 Yard chief: Anarchy is attractive
by thisislondon
Copyright: thisislondon
A top London police officer today publicly admitted that he finds anarchy attractive.
The comments by Commander Brian Paddick - who, as commander of the Met's Lambeth division, introduced the "softly softly" approach to cannabis users in Brixton last year - appear on a radical website. Using the screen name "Brian: The Commander", he also calls for cannabis to be legalised and admits that his views will probably cause him problems with his superiors.
On the site, he writes: "The concept of Anarchism has always appealed to me. The idea of the innate goodness of the individual that is corrupted by society or the system. It is a theoretical argument but I am not sure everyone would behave well if there were no laws and no system."
He was contributing to the website www.urban75.com, renowned for its coverage of direct-action protests, drugs and anarchism. It has 4,000 members and is visited a million times a month.
Mr Paddick says: "Do not treat all police officers as lapdogs of a corrupt capitalist system. Dogs sometimes turn on their owners."
On drugs, he says: "What do I really think... we need to take the criminality out of it by legalisation and strict control. We need to educate people as to the effects drugs will have on them short term/long term and allow those old enough to make their own decisions about what they do to their bodies," adding "Bottom line - screw the dealers, help the addicts."
He continues: "I cannot stand around waiting for others to come to their senses whilst people's lives are destroyed through drugs. I am doing what I think is right in the current circumstances even if I think I would do something different if the law was different. This is not a cop out and I have engaged in the philosophical / hypothetical debate here and in Parliament. BUT WHAT DO I DO IN MY CURRENT POSITION NOW? HELP ME!!"
He admits to contributing to the website in an interview with the magazine The Big Issue, but insists his views are personal ones. In it, he says: "Clearly we are not getting it right in terms of dealing with the problems of dealing in Class A drugs in Brixton. What the boards have enabled me to do is get a feel for what people think from their perspective versus what I know."
Mr Paddick, who is Britain's highest ranking openly gay officer, also makes it clear he is taking a risk simply by discussing the issues in a public forum. He writes: "I have to be careful. Expressing my views here could end up in the press or on my bosses' desks."
He continues: "Of course the beauty of the internet is that no one can prove who you are. First newspaper article based on these boards and I'm out of here.
"I do not give two hoots about my promotion prospects but I do care about keeping my job here in Brixton. One step too far and I might be counting paper clips in the Personnel Department. Most people in the police think I am beyond redemption, 'let's get the guys in the white coats to take him away'."
Mr Paddick adds: "Someone has already found out which gay club I go to and is trying to cause SERIOUS shit for me. It's nice to be popular!! I have been described as politically naive. If this means I say what's in my heart, I'm happy to be labelled as such. I'm either brave or stupid."
The website's Brixton-based editor Mike Slocombe said: "Brian is to be commended for having the bottle to do it." Mr Paddick introthe "softly softly" pilot drugs project in Lambeth last July, whereby anyone caught with small amounts of cannabis escapes with a caution instead of arrest and prosecution.
Since the launch in Brixton, hundreds of people in possession of small amounts of the drug have not been prosecuted, saving thousands of hours of police time.
But critics claim the scheme has lead to an influx of cannabis users into the area and a growth in hard drugs. Last week former New York mayor Rudi Giuliani criticised the scheme, saying anyducedone caught with cannabis should be arrested.
Mr Paddick is on leave, but admits that his bosses knew nothing about his contributions to the website, which could prove a huge embarrassment to the Yard and may well raise questions about his future prospects with the Met.
http://thisislondon.co.uk/
UK: Norwich rave ends early – February 2002 Norwich Rave Ends Early
courtesy of EPD24 - February 4, 2002
Copyright: EPD24
A rave in Norwich came to a close in the early hours of yesterday after police "negotiated" with partygoers to turn off their music. Officers said they were aware of a potential gathering after receiving reports on Saturday that an event was to be held somewhere in Trowse.
But they were only alerted to a change in venue when they received a call after midnight reporting a large crowd playing loud music in a disused garage. At its peak, the rave attracted 300 people to the former Vauxhall dealership in Mountergate.
"We had reports of persons who were at Trowse earlier in the day on Saturday who planned to party until 6am," said a police spokesman. But he said they were not sure if the rave had began in Trowse and moved on to Mountergate or whether it had only been in the disused garage.
"We had about five officers who went along to the garage, assessed the situation and negotiated with them to turn the music off at 2.30am. Fifteen minutes later it went quiet and by around 3.30am everyone had gone home," said the police spokesman.
According to the police, there were no reports of disturbances and no arrests.
http://www.edp24.co.uk/default.asp
UK: Police stop rave in bakery – January 2002 Police stop rave in bakery
By thisislocallondon - Tuesday 08 January 2002
Copyright: thisislocallondon
A rave in a disused bakery building was shut down by police officers, it emerged today.
Inspector Joe Wrigley said it is the first rave in the Braintree division to be closed down using public nuisance legislation.
He is concerned that raves are a front for drug dealing and are at the heart of an increase in the drug culture and his comments come after a Dunmow farmer was arrested when he tried to stop a rave on his land.
Girls aged 13-15 were among the 70 people that had gathered for the New Year's Eve party in the Bocking building.
Insp Wrigley added there were no apparent first-aiders, too few fire extinguishers, no fire exits and the Bovingdon Road premises were close to homes and next to a building that was ravaged by fire.
He said: "It was a recipe for disaster and I thought that if it went on we would be picking up a body - it was minus eight degrees.
"There has to be something we can do otherwise this summer is going to be a nightmare.
"I am desperately on the community's side but why are we doing it on our own. Everyone is looking to the police but there are fire safety, public health and licensing issues.
"We have a collective responsibility. The drug culture has been allowed to increase and these parties are at the heart of that," said Insp Wrigley.
He said he will be setting up meetings with licensing officers at Braintree and Uttlesford councils in a move to bring in other agencies to deal with the growing trend.
Under current legislation police officers are able to stop a rave in the open-air but not in a building.
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/
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