Forums > Social Chat > Pepare 2 be Shocked, Very Shocked!

Posted: 29th Aug 2002
I was at that party spinning

I turned up at about 3 am after work by that time the police had already been in and taken the first systems generator. There were around 10 riot vans and 5-6 police cars when I arrived so I got dropped off around the corner and snuck my way in.

There was no trouble until about 6 or 7 am when a line of police in full riot gear formed on one side and advanced to the party (about 20 cops full shields) we were by the other side of the system as another group of riot cops came running in with small round shields and batons.

I stayed until the dog unit arrived and there was a fecking great alsation, barking its head off, at the end of its lead about 2 metres from me - at this point I decided to leave as I aint messing with dogs.

There were some nasty scenes at that party (a site where we have had previous parties), I am just downloading the video footage now - thanks it will be good to get another look at it although it is going to stir some horible feelings when I watch it I think.

Mark P

Posted: 29th Aug 2002
yeah, it didnt make me feel 2 good wehn i watched it either.

Posted: 29th Aug 2002
I cant watch it now cos I dont have Real Player up at uni but I will be sure to watch it when I get to a computer that does.

The location is wonderful for parties there and I managed to get some poi sets done under the flyover (including a couple of breathes onto the ceiling which I just love)

Also the people that I met there were great too and these are the memories that I hope to save from the party.

Thankyou for posting the video link as I definately would like the chance to go over the situation in my head again - I was a little tired at the time

Mark P

Posted: 29th Aug 2002
Yep, that report was by a good guy I know (Scott Ellis) who works for the BBC local news. Good to see a bit of relatively balanced news reporting about these things. The underground rave scene in the UK is still very active, but doesnt get much press at the moment (LOTS of fire people at most events). This lack of publicity is good from the point of view of events continuing to happen, but it's bad when bad stuff like this goes on.

Background: a few months previously there was a HUGE rave at Steart Beach, about 30 miles from Bristol (aka Feeling-of-life party, aka Castle Morton anniversary). The Guardian newspaper reckoned there were 10,000 people there (including me, MarkP and Woody, having a blast!). An utterly fantastic party, one of the highlights of my year! The police totally failed to control it (you try stopping 10,000 people!). I've read some stuff that suggests it caused a lot of friction within police ranks. So from their point of view, they had to be seen to be doing something at future events.

It's particularly pathetic that they chose this event to crack down on, because (a) there have been other parties at the same site which passed with no trouble and minimal mess and (b) everyone would have buggered off anyway by 11am to go to the Ashton Court festival down the road.

I believe there are some formal complaints being made against the police. For more info, see news items at https://bristol.indymedia.org/
(searching for "party" will find most of them).

Party hard, but party safe.

Dr Jon

Posted: 30th Aug 2002
Six weeks ago at a Duncraige party in little old Perth Australia the police came in with a police helicopter, lots of pigs in riot gear and big bad ass police dogs. I was like WHAT THE FUCK!!! The party had about two hundred people but things werent getting smashed up or anything, the worst shit that was happening was a couple of fights between a few guys here and there which is pretty normal. It would have costed a huge amount of money to have the helicopter circling the house for an hour and paying the wages of fifty odd police officers, what bullshit.

A week before that my friend had a party where a shit load of guys rocked up and started smashing up all of our cars and the house. It took the police an hour to respond with one police car. Fuck that for a police force. Still my fire staff got some serious head cracking action that night.

The police force is a joke in our country.

HOW TO FLY 101:
step 1. Throw your self at the ground.
step 2. Miss.

Posted: 30th Aug 2002
That is total B/S! I really feel for you guys, but I have never really gone through anything that bad. I mean the worst we have had is the cops come in shut off our power and tell us to go home...one time I about got aressted for curfew but thats it. I mean I know I'm in Oklahoma and all but we can have are fare share of parties. Though I wish I wasn't the only person in the Oklahoma City metro area that spun fire...

Well, I know our parties are no where near the size of everywhere else but non the less...cops suck.
(even thought my g/f's dad is a cop )

<( ' ' )>
Fear the Kirby

Posted: 30th Aug 2002
Urban_Culture, machine i'm on right now couldn't run the vid, but DrJon thanx so much for filling us in!

btw, DrJon, in UK, for parties that large, do you use the term "massive"? not as an adjective, as a noun: "i went to the biggest massive of the season. . ." ?

what we call them in Southern California, and probably throughout the US. . .oll Kiel llo, do you use that, even if not 10,000 heads? in LA a real massive's 5,000+ though smaller parties aspire to the phrase. what to call what is it, over 1/2 million Germans at Love Parade?!

i hear a lot about squats getting busted, do large parties often get busted in UK?

molten cheers,

~ FireMike

FireMikeZ@yahoo.com (personal messages welcome, no promo spam, please!)
Laguna, California, US

Posted: 30th Aug 2002
Mike...

Depends on the party, the area, the cops and the night.

The cops here know about many of the parties and dont give a shit unless they are assholes, you are being VERY unsafe (the building, fire regs, capacity regulations, etc..) or a member of the public complains.

If a member of the public complains (squats often do this as they are houses usually or near houses) then the police are legally bound to stopping the party.
If you are causing harm to the building or the environment they are also legally obliged to shut you down.

Beides these two reasons the WILL shut a party down if:

-they see obvious VERY VERY illegal things going down i.e. MASSIVE drug deals or lots and lots of dealing in dodgy drugs (the ones they dont like usually lots o class As category 1 in the US I think)

-the main organisers have a bad relationship with the cops or has had serious problems in parties in the past (these are the asshole cops)

-they dont see the party as innocent fun (many times it is no where near innocent again asshole cops)

-finally they WILL shut you down if thats what they feel like doing although it doesnt happen often these days but there are some cops who have different vendetas against the party scene...

It really depends in London! The cops are generally nice depending on what you get caught doing of course. Many times cops go to some squats (heard from a friend who has had several successful squats) look around speak to the organiser and leave if they are satisfied...

Much love, drome

JUGGLEwithyourmind!

Posted: 31st Aug 2002
Re: use of 'massive' in UK english.

It's used as an adjective as you would expect. But in modern urban English (*), it can be used as a collective noun, normally applied to a well defined social, ethnic or geographical group.

Example: "Respect going out to the the Brixton Massive!" means "Greetings and salutations to all
my fine friends from south London".

The term is also used humourously by people who would normally speak more coventional english. For more examples of this, check out da man Ali G.

Dr Jon

(*) used, but most certainly not exclusively, by people of afro-carribean origin.