BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/3808411.stm
Avon and Somerset police are taking advantage of new legislation to help break up illegal gatherings and raves before they happen.
Previously, 100 people had to be gathered in an open space before officers could take action.
The new order gives them powers to break up a crowd of 20 or more people in open or indoor areas.
And anyone who is moved on faces arrest if they try to start up another gathering within 24 hours.
The force is believed to be one of the first in the country to adopt the new legislation under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003.
‘Early Action’
Operational planning head, Superintendent Adrian Coombs, said police could now deal with incidents more effectively rather than relying on public order legislation.
“In the past we’ve had a situation where officers realised they could do little until a rave had been going on for some time, meaning serious disruption to both local people and officers.
“Now officers will have the power to take early action to prevent a rave getting off the ground in the first place,” he said.
The new legislation also gives police powers to remove 20 or more people suspected of trespass, which will stop raves in disused warehouses taking place.
and
So, there you have it! yet another turn of the screw. I pointed out the advance of these law changes, earlier on my blog at:
[url]http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2003_10_05_tash_lodge_archive.html#106569213958283190[/url]
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2003/10/278956.html
An earlier ‘Rant’ about it all at, and further info:
http://tash.gn.apc.org/rant_1.htm
http://tash.gn.apc.org/sys_opinion.htm
http://tash.gn.apc.org/law_impl.htm also ….
New toys (and new skills) for the Old Bill
http://partyvibe.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1681
all on my blog at:
[url]http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com/2004_06_13_tash_lodge_archive.html#108733713725031608[/url]
ho hum!!!!
best
tash
____________________________________________
ALAN LODGE
Photographer – Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham. UK
Web: http://tash.gn.apc.org
WAP phone http://wappy.to/tash
ICQ #24654598
My Blog [url]http://tash_lodge.blogspot.com[/url]
BroadBand http://tash.dns2go.com
My WAP on web http://tash.gn.apc.org/wap_phone.htm
Member of the National Union of Journalist [No: 014345]
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“It is not enough to curse the darkness.
It is also necessary to light a lamp!!”
in my (humble) experience the police forces in the south west (with the clear exception of bristol) are symathetic to groups of people having a good time, albeit at smaller parties than used to happen.
don’t cause strife, live your life
keep em sweet and feel de beat…
fuck that! write to your MP now…or, erm, whatever you like really, as long as you find ways to stand up for yourself, turn it up and enjoy
i think what I’m trying to say is get in touch with your local crews and find out how you can support them or, if you are a crew, communicate with others in your area and
keep it unified
writing to MPs has already been done – didn’t work as the building owners, farmers and locals wrote to the MPs as well pointing out how much disruption we caused with parties 🙁
incidentally in TVP area they now seem to put up with parties until Sunday lunchtime; and then serve the S63 to clear everyone off site (but if everyone is gone by then there doesn’t seem to be any further action)
TBH I don’t have a big problem with parties being smaller and perhaps going on for less time than they used to.
Apart from disruption to locals etc, staying up for days and caning bare drugs every weekend takes it out of people physically and mentally – and parties nowadays are attended by large groups of friends who may or may not like those from other groups rather than “one unified mass” – any illusion of total unity is often merely that caused by peaking on drugs.
In some parties, particularly those which have gone on for ages I have seen a distinct “lord of the flies” type situation developing as tiredness, comedowns and paranoia set in across groups, indeed in some cases arguments – even scuffles and actual violence; (particularly over stuff like accusations of theft or even access to decks/rigs!) have occured.
Not the happiest paragraph but I’m being pragmatic and realistic rather than pessimistic; this is stuff I’ve seen recently even at the best parties not held in “rough areas”
if taking things a bit easy minimises stuff like this happening as well as means the plod don’t give us too much hassle then I’m all for it!
yes yes, but isn’t all this “new powers” noise rolled out in the south west every time glasters is on? then we all go back to ‘normal’…. i hope!
perhaps if the organisers of these events had more respect for the premises where these events are held, we wouldnt all be in this mess. i dont know about you, but the reason i go to parties is the music, its not some anarchist statement. i’ve lost count of the amount of times i’ve seen buildings trashed and tagged to death, do people not think what happens after the party crew have left the building? the owners or prospective new tenants are left with a huge clear up bill.
do people think all of this comes without a price to the party crews?
we are now reaping the harvest of our own stupidity. the failure to respect others puts us clearly in the anti social bracket (which is kind of ironic considering partying is a social activity) and hence the crackdown.
in blair’s britain the government are firmly against yob culture and i’m afraid thats what we are now seen as.
trashing buildings has nothing to do with partying and enjoying music and its through the actions of the mindless few that we find the large boot of the law stamping on the heads of music lovers.
me? i dont find that i have anything in common with the average inner city squat party, and i’ve stopped frequenting them because it makes me sick to my stomach watching a scene which i’ve loved dying or should i say commiting suicide therough the mindless ignorance of twats.
how can we hold our heads up and fight for what we believe in and at the same time justify this behaviour? we cant. vandalism has no place in society and yet if we sit by and let this go on because its a “free” party then we condone this and open ourselves up to the course that this is taking.
you cant tar all freparties with the squat party brush..they aren’t the same as open air events, and while i totally agee with you about them being unacceptable, there are plenty of outdoor events which are run in a responsible and sustainable way.
the theory behind squat parties is sound, but the crews these days dont seem to give a shit. what they should be doing is targeting properties that have been left unused by their owners, to the ditriment of the local community. positive squatparties are a political tool for raising awareness about these eyesore buildings, to get the negligent owners to act responsibly. this doesnt seem to happen any more, and i would suggest that because the police has defined our scene as illegal, it has seemed less and less likely that however hard you try and do parties resposibly, the fucking filth is always gonna shit on you, so after years of being arrested for putting on community events, the party orgnisers now dont give a shit, all they want is to party the building and not get nicked.
if you look at the neglect of some areas by property owners and councils, i beleive that ammounts to vandalism on a massive scale, so any paint or whatnot that gets thrown around is irrelevent. its like nicking someone for stabbin a dead body. pointless. we arent about to arrest the murderer, because he is too important to government.
but you should remember that it was the criminal justice act 1994 and its amendments that have forced freeparties into the underground. french government was more reasonable, and so they have a more reasonable scene. it is our government who are the killers of the scene, not the hard working people who are criminalised by this pathetic excuse for society.
i have been helpin parties for four years, and ive only helped two squatparties, out of hundreds of raves. they are a tiny section of the free party community, and they are the most destructive. but remember how they gotthat way, and that most freeparties arent like that. partying tucked away in some beautiful woods is where i wanna be. still, squat parties do bring attention to urban squalor, so maybe they arent all bad.
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