i’d like to see them prove that tickets were being sold for that event in london, and apparently these tickets clearly displayed the exact venue & dates. s’funny because i cant think of the last time where a venue was printed on any flyer or ticket or any piece of papperwork for a free party/rave or such like event.

although cops have probably exaggerated things as usual, it seems odd they have to invent such a situation as this “5-day illegal concert” when lying without evidence will only wreck their legal case and they could have quite simply have closed down the event and launched PEL prosecutions anyway.

Hampshire were one of the first forces to sucessfully use the PEL laws and even in the early 90s were known as the “ravekillers”, they have prosecuted people for far smaller events. IIRC they were also one of the first forces to refuse licenses to legal raves due to the “drugs element” ( which I suspect merely drove people towards a worse class A drugs culture).

As for the flyer issue, flyering free parties, complete with a partyline, was commonplace from the mid-90s (when the technology became more easily available) until 2003 or so when the first major clampdowns and
PEL prosecutions started.

One now-defunct crew used to regularly put a flyer image on their website, encourage people to download it and use their employers resources to print and distribute copies. I dread to think how many copies of this flyer were inadvertantly left on workplace network servers – only for bosses to discover on Mondays often whilst covering for staff who have “pulled a sickie!”

“charging” for “free” party entry has always been a contentious issue, the source of endless arguments both on and off-line, and yet another reason why cops and authorities clamp down. It tends to happen more at warehouse party season and is an accepted practice in money-minded London due to security costs (mind you lets face it, who is going to risk a knife or bullet for
free?)

OTOH the practice of denying entry to ravers until the “donation” is paid makes it bloody obvious exactly what is going on to any passing bobby or nosey motorist, and reinforces an age-old prejudice of cops and other non-ravers (including building owners) that events are held for personal profit of the crew members, even though donations are to cover expenses incurred.

There is of course the ovbious counter-claim from building owners – who will pay for our costs for repairs and clear-ups?)

There was once an attempt to try to pass round a donation bucket at the Ridgeway; this practice was abandoned when a young lady had a car driven at her after asking for donations. There have also been a number of incidents of people unconnected to any crew trying to charge for entry to outdoor parties!

Sadly, with a lot of desparate people about these days, a lot of politics within crews and a “gangsta” mentality in some areas its perfectly possible someone did try this scam.

Further, the level of global internet content monitoring by both private and public sector organisations has vastly increased, with everything from extremist groups to on-line suicide method sites and young people planning fights, robberies and other bullying on line this is hardly surprising.

It is not 1995 any more when most cops didn’t even know what the internet was, now everything is monitored, recorded and judged; an army of private vigilantés including angry individuals pick up what the conventional authorities sometimes miss.

Add to this the mentality of cops to treat everything as a worst-case scenario and a potential crime (todays raver is seen as tomorrows drug addict)
all it takes is a few loose cannons and boastful banter in the wrong places or merely one person in the party scene for the wrong reasons to hot things up and increase the risk for everybody.