Peak District 21/6/03 Solstice I've heard there could be a solstice party in the peak district on Saturday night - anyone have any numbers?
Cheers guys:p
Word: Columbia’s powder keg – July 2000 Columbia's powder keg
By http://RNW.nl - Jul 2000
Copyright: RNW.nl
How can Colombia be helped to disentangle itself from more than 30 years of guerrilla war and drug trafficking? Representatives from more than 20 European and North American governments are discussing the question in Madrid on Friday. Last week, the United States decided to funnel a billion dollars into helicopters and military equipment to destroy Colombia's drug crops, which are a key source of financing to left-wing rebels. Now the Colombian government is hoping to get another billion from European countries to take the sting out of the military aid with social and human rights programs. But European governments appear reluctant to buy into the programme.
For the past six months, the Colombian government has been trying to sell its new strategy to the world - a strategy it calls Plan Colombia. It's supposed to tackle both the country's need for war and its need for peace. From the US, it's asked for support on the war side. A military aid package that includes 60 helicopters to destroy Colombia's drug crops through aerial fumigation as well as fight any left-wing rebels who try to protect the crops. From Europe, it hopes to get money for peace building - to help war victims, to improve the justice system and Human rights protections and find new legal crops for Colombian farmers.
The US View:
But the way things are going Plan Colombia may end up getting all war and no peace aid. The Americans passed the military package with relative ease. US anti-drug Czar General Barry McCaffrey explained it to his congress in simple terms. In his view, the FARC guerrillas "protect the drug crops" and "all that drug money has turned them into an almost unstoppable force that's destabilising the country […] When you see the video outtakes of the FARC, they're wearing shiny new uniforms. They have more machine guns than the Colombian infantry battalion have."
The Americans believe if they can knock out the rebels' drug financing, the guerrillas will eventually become more flexible in the peace talks. But in the short term - if the military strategy works - it will destroy the livelihood of 35,000 coca farmers. Poor farmers with no other way to survive. That's where the Europeans are supposed to come in.
Coca Farmers´ Wrath:
At a meeting last week, in a guerrilla-held zone of Colombia, European diplomats came face to face with the wrath of these coca farmers. The farmers demanded that drug production in Colombia be seen as a social problem instead of a military one.
"We're willing to stop cultivating these drug crops", said community leader Guillermo Penya, "but only if the government sits down with us to negotiate. Not with helicopters and fumigation hanging over our heads." This is one of Plan Colombia's greatest flaws. It was developed without consulting the people or even church or human rights groups. And this worries European governments. Dutch Ambassador to Colombia Gisbert Bos says past attempts to develop peace strategies in Colombia have failed because they've always been drawn up behind the people's backs. "I do hope that this important initiative by President Pastrana will not die the same death. We hope that the process will succeed. But it should not be a dark room, billiard room business, closed to everybody."
Domestic Opposition:
Some foreign diplomats say that European governments want to support programmes like crop substitution to help Colombian farmers break away from drug production. But right now, virtually all Colombian non-government organisations - from church to human right groups to university agencies - are adamantly opposed to Plan Colombia. And that makes it unsellable in Europe.
Jorge Rojas runs CODHES, a Colombian NGO that helps people displaced by the war. He says the social programs are desperately needed, but they won't cancel out the destruction the military aid is bound to produce.
Making Matters Worse:
This US military aid is going to make the war grow and become more violent, Rojas says. And the illegal drug production will just move deeper into the forest and slide over the borders into neighbouring countries. European and Colombian non-government organisations will be at the Madrid meeting. They're hoping to convince all the governments there, including the US, to back away from the military approach. They want that money put instead towards social programmes that could help solve the underlying poverty and violence which is driving the drug and guerrilla war in Colombia.
World: China’s drugs boom – June 2000 China's drugs boom
By BBC News - Tuesday, 6 June, 2000
Copyright: BBC News
The casual visitor to any of China's big cities could be forgiven for thinking this was a country without a serious drug problem - streets full of people who look either too smart and law-abiding, or simply not wealthy enough to be users of proscribed drugs. Yet in a leafy backstreet in one of Beijing's quieter residential areas there is a reminder of how deceptive appearances can be.
Outside the Chaoyang district court is a noticeboard with details of forthcoming criminal trials; a quick look one day recently revealed that about a third of some 25 cases listed were of people accused of drug dealing. While the Chinese authorities paid limited attention to the return of the drugs trade amid the breakneck economic reforms of the 1980s, the problem has now become hard to ignore.
'Designer drugs'
Official figures say 57,000 people were arrested last year for drug trafficking or drug production, up eight percent from a year earlier, and at least 100 people are reported to have been executed for drug trafficking in 1999.
The scale of the crimes is growing too. In March a court in Huizhou in southern Guangdong province sentenced four people to death and eight others to prison for manufacturing one and a half tonnes of 'ice'.
Yang Fengrui, head of the narcotics squad in China's police ministry, said recently that seizures of the designer drug increased tenfold last year - and police believe the 16 tonnes they got their hands on may be only the tip of this particular 'iceberg'.
Mr Yang also said that the drug, never detected in China until 1997, has now been found in two thirds of the country's provinces.
The spread of ice (also known as methamphetamine) can be partly explained by the fact that China is the world's largest natural source of ephedrine, from which the drug is derived.
But China is also facing a surge of drugs from across its borders, both from Central Asia, and from the south-west - where Yunnan province borders the notorious Golden Triangle region of Burma and Laos.
Chinese police have in recent years begun tentative cooperation with neighbouring governments, as well as with international anti-drug agencies. But drugs continue to flow into the country, either for shipment to markets in Asia and the west, or for Chinese consumers - last year five tons of heroin were seized, while ecstasy and other designer drugs are also spreading.
Tough punishment
Police say if foreign sources are not cut off, China will be unable to solve its drug trafficking problem.
The number of registered drug addicts in China is 680,000 - almost three quarters of them users of heroin. That may not seem much for a country with close to 1.3 billion people. But that figure represents a 15% increase during 1999 alone; and the true number of addicts is widely acknowledged to be far higher - not least because many drug users were too scared of being treated as a criminal to register for treatment.
In recent years officials have finally begun to offer rehabilitation rather than outright punishment, but sympathy for drug addicts is still limited.
The challenge for China now is that drug use has spread out of remote ethnic minority areas in the south-west and a few big coastal cities, into wider society.
Intravenous drug use is officially listed as the main cause of the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS in China; while drugs of various types have found markets in the night clubs of the big city, and among disaffected young people in many areas of the country. Drug rehabilitation centres are planned in 742 counties around the country over the next two years
There have also been public information campaigns, with posters and exhibitions.
But despite increased official concern, experts still doubt whether the authorities have the resources to keep up with the rapid spread of drugs.
If they are to succeed they will also have to stamp out the collusion of local officials in drug trafficking in some areas, as well as the return of the cultivation of opium poppies, for which more than 4,000 people were punished last year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Hong Kong’s Changing Drug Trade Hong Kong's changing drug trade
By BBC News - Thursday, 8 June, 2000
Copyright: BBC News
Hong Kong used to be a major centre for drugs shipments between Asia and the rest of the world - but that is changing.
Drugs traffickers are finding new and simpler routes for their illicit trade
Law enforcement agencies say the city still provides much of the finance and expertise behind the scenes, but many shipments no longer pass through the territory.
Strict law-enforcement in Hong Kong itself means there is now a higher chance that consignments of drugs will be detected if they pass through its ports and airports.
Finance centre
"Hong Kong is receding in importance in terms of physically handling drugs" says Senior Inspector Peter Tarrant of Hong Kong Police's Narcotics Bureau.
"In the past the United States has labelled Hong Kong as a transhipment zone, but now the situation is different.
"But there are still a lot of figures here who have the connections and finances to put shipments together, and the contacts abroad to receive them. Often they put up the money but don't handle the drugs."
The major trade is in heroin and an amphetamine known as "ice" (or, more technically, methamphetamine) which is widely used in Asia, in particular in Taiwan and Japan.
The heroin originates in the Golden Triangle area of South East Asia. From the poppy-growing fields of Burma, Thailand and Laos, it is smuggled through Southern China and then on to its markets.
Seizures
"The flow of heroin from the Golden Triangle is generally eastwards," says Senior Inspector Peter Tarrant. "Europe is supplied by West Asia, the American supply tends to come from South America and Mexico, the Golden Triangle tends to supply Asia.
"But the old idea of Thai trawlers entering Hong Kong waters with a container of drugs tied underneath the boat, before passing them on to local fishermen, they're over now."
In the past year the Hong Kong police have made several major seizures. In November 1999, 70kg of heroin was intercepted close to China in the New Territories and a similar amount was seized in the same area in March 2000.
Both these consignments were thought to be heading for distribution in Hong Kong itself. Their combined street value was around US $20 million.
China is the source for much of Asia's "ice". Ephedrine, which is an important component of ice, is commonly used in Chinese medicines and is widely available.
Spreading the risk
In May Hong Kong Police arrested two men alleged to be packing the drug into a container for shipment to Australia.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
World: Running drugs down the Amazon – June 2000 Running drugs down the Amazon
By BBC News - Friday, 9 June, 2000
Copyright: BBC News
Ask people about drug trafficking and they look at you twice, then deny it's a problem any longer.
But stay on a bit, and some of them begin to open up.
"It's not something we talk about to strangers," says one.
"There's nothing else to do here," says another.
"It's really out of control," adds a third.
Fuel tank haul
Just down river is the Federal Police's Aznol Base - their highest profile interdiction operation on the border.
Here all vessels travelling down the Amazon further into Brazil have to stop and be searched.
They show me the 28 kilos of cocaine they dug out of a ferry boat's fuel tank the day before.
But with just six police agents here at any one time, their presence seems largely symbolic.
The base commander himself takes me round the back and points out how determined traffickers can easily stop a little way up stream, carry their merchandise through a few kilometres of jungle, then reload further down river.
Not to mention the 1,000km of frontier with Colombia stretching north from here.
It's thick rainforest, crossed by at least three major river systems, with dozens of tributaries - and there is no police presence at all.
Colombian rebels
Only the Brazilian army has a handful of border posts carved out of the jungle.
The US Government would like to see Brazilian soldiers joining the war on drugs along this frontier, just as it would like
Brazil to co-operate with military actions against the rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who control most of the territory on the Colombian side of the border.
But Brazil is resisting.
The army says its role, as defined by the Brazilian Constitution, does not include policing the drugs trade.
Nor does it believe that the FARC represent any threat to Brazilian sovereignty.
Nationalists of both the left and the right, including some highly placed officers in Brazil's military hierarchy, say they fear the drugs issue is being used by Washington as a pretext to justify an increasing international presence right across Amazonia.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
World: Japan’s police chief quits – January 2000 Japan's police chief quits
By BBC News - Thursday, 6 January, 2000
Copyright: BBC News
Japan's top police chief has resigned following a spate of scandals, including allegations of drug abuse and sexual harassment, which have dented the force's image.
National Police Agency chief Yuko Sekiguchi, 60, said that now a clean-up of the force was nearly finished it was the right time to step down.
However, he said his resignation did not imply that he was taking responsibility for any wrongdoing.
Cover-up
The force's generally clean image was shattered last year by allegations that senior officials in a Tokyo suburb covered up drug abuse by a colleague.
The prefecture police chief and several other officials have been arrested.
Other scandals inside the 260,000-strong force have involved allegations of extorting money from suspects, sexual harassment and bullying.
There was even one case of hit and run, where a police car ran a member of the public over and left the scene of the crime.
Scandal
Mr Sekiguchi said his recent plan to bolster the National Public Safety Commission, the body which supervises the nation's police force, had been completed.
His resignation is expected to be approved by the cabinet this week and he is likely to be replaced by the agency's deputy chief, Setsuo Tanaka, 56.
Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said last year that the crimes were "beyond description" because they involved a systematic cover-up.
The main scandal centred on allegations that police in Kanagawa prefecture covered up drug abuse by a former assistant inspector, Yoshihisa Sakayori.
Mr Sakayori had confessed in December 1996 to using amphetamines, but was not arrested despite a positive urine test for drugs. He was only fired after a subsequent extramarital affair.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
UK: Drugs war ‘a losing battle’ – September 1999 Drugs war 'a losing battle'
By BBC News - Thursday, September 16, 1999
Copyright: BBC News
One of Scotland's most senior police officers has said that the war against drugs cannot be won under the current system.
Lothian and Borders Deputy Chief Constable Tom Wood told a conference in Edinburgh that the only way to tackle drugs barons was to reduce demand for drugs.
He also said "too many agencies all feel they must be seen to do something but pull in different directions".
Mr Wood told delegates that too many agencies were involved in the fight against drugs. They overlapped, competed and demanded a share of scarce resources.
He said the situation was chaotic and needed a reduction in numbers whilst retaining the commitment.
In a wide-ranging speech, Mr Wood criticised the "authorities" for being "ambivalent about dealing with alcohol".
He said the authorities were granting too many licenses to sell alcohol and that licensing boards were being influenced by market forces.
He accused elected representatives of operating "a hands-off approach leaving us at the mercy of big business and vested interests".
He described drugs as "the only significant factor to impact on crime since the industrial revolution" and said that it has "got us on the run".
'Social phenomenon'
"No ambivalence here, no lack of action, quite the reverse for although drugs and alcohol are intertwined and take an almost equal toll, a lack of understanding and panic has ensured our attitude is entirely different," he said.
"We have made drugs, essentially a social phenomenon, into a war. No messing, no tolerance and amongst most, very little knowledge."
Mr Wood was forthright in his praise for the successes Scottish police forces have had in seizing large quantities of drugs, particularly heroin, and in the way they had pitted themselves against "very sophisticated criminals".
But he said that did not mean the war against drugs was being won.
"If it is a war we're not winning it and I doubt we've won a battle and I don't believe we ever can."
He said it would not be won until demand was reduced. This could only be delivered by education, although he stressed that did not mean the police would ease up on dealers.
Teachers' role
"If the drug phenomenon is a war then the only people capable of really winning it are parents and school teachers and primary school teachers at that, yet we have obviously failed to stress the role that teachers must play."
Mr Wood added: "I believe that every primary school child should receive the best and fullest drugs education. I believe it is a life skill as important as being taught to cross the road."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
UK: Drugs death sparks hunt for suspect ECSTASY – July 1998 Drugs death sparks hunt for suspect ecstasy
By thisislondon - 09 March 1998
Copyright: thisislondon
Police have launched a massive hunt for a batch of contaminated ecstasy pills after a teenager from south London died.
They are trying to trace around 15 white pills bearing the letter M, which they believe may have claimed the life of a 19-year-old man from Welling, who died at Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton yesterday morning.
Friends told police he was carrying the suspect pills while he was out with them on Saturday night in Bexleyheath, Welling and Greenwich. By the time he was admitted to hospital they were missing, sparking fears they had already been sold on or are still in the hands of an unsuspecting dealer.
The results of a post-mortem due today will show whether the man, who will be named once all relatives have been informed, was killed by an overdose or by swallowing a contaminated pill. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: "We are anxious to trace anyone who is offered what is believed to be white ecstasy tablets with the letter M on them. It is not known if these tablets had any part in the victim's death and inquiries are still continuing into the circumstances of this death.
"However, police are concerned to find the whereabouts of 10-15 tablets known to have been in the victim's possession. We are appealing to anyone who was offered the drugs on Saturday night.
"Anyone in the Bexleyheath, Greenwich or Welling areas who may have been offered tablets fitting this description or anyone who has information should contact police as soon as possible."
The suspected drugs death follows a spate of ecstasy-related deaths at the beginning of the year when the drug claimed the lives of three teenagers in separate incidents at New Year's parties. The number of deaths blamed on the drug in Britain is about 70.
Public concern about the potentially fatal effects of the rave drug was triggered by the death in 1995 of Leah Betts, from Basildon, Essex, and the subsequent campaign against the drug launched by her parents, Paul and Janet.
Today Paul Betts, father of Leah, said: "My heart goes out to his parents. If we could be any comfort to them at all, we would be only too happy to help."
Mr Betts, 51, of Maldon, Essex, now runs a drugs awareness helpline with wife Janet, 51. He said it was a myth that it was just bad pills that killed, and insisted it was the ecstasy itself that was potentially lethal.
Mr Betts said: "We have got to make people realise is it is the pure drug that can kill. It doesn't necessarily have to be a contaminated pill.
"There is this notion that if people die there is something wrong with the pill. But very often it is the MDMA, the ecstasy, that kills."
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/
World: Will the EU be able to clamp down on Amsterdam? – January 1998 Will the EU be able to clamp down on sex and drugs in Amsterdam?
By BBC News - Wednesday, January 7, 1998
Copyright: BBC News
Tackling crime is one of the issues that British Prime Minister Tony Blair sees as a priority as the UK begins its six-month presidency of the European Union.
Organised crime has become increasingly international in character. Trafficking in women and drugs are some of the crimes to be dealt with by the new European body for police co-operation, Europol, which is due to become fully operational later this year.
In the last of our special series looking at the issues of crime, the environment and unemployment, BBC correspondent Mike Donkin went on patrol with Dutch police in Amsterdam's red light district, where sex and drugs are rife:
Organised crime feeds best off sex and drugs, and in Amsterdam there is plenty to satisfy the most voracious of appetites.
Amsterdam is the main conduit for the traffic of women, which the European Union has pledged to stop. The women come from the world over.
It is a trade that is incredibly hard for the authorities to clamp down on. Those who run it are rarely to be found on the streets.
The women themselves, recruited back home for a job in the West, are too fearful to complain when they discover what that job is.
If they do contact police to complain, they are usually deported without an investigation, according to the Dutch group, Foundation against Trafficking in Women. They say the EU must change that.
"The first thing that should be changed in the policies of the European countries is to create the conditions for women to come out, to ask for support, to escape, to press charges," said Marjam Wijers.
"This means they should be allowed a temporary escape permit, they should have witness protection, and they should have appropriate support."
Drugs abound, despite recent successes
When it comes to drugs, Dutch police have had more success in recent months. After a series of high-profile raids, two drugs barons currently await trial.
But heroin and cocaine continue to flow unabated through Holland and beyond.
At an Amsterdam drug addiction centre, Harold takes methadone, a heroin substitute, to try to break a 12-year cycle of abuse. All of his previous efforts were thwarted by the drug pushers.
"They're always trying to sell me drugs. Those people are making very good money out of the drugs."
And as new more fashionable drugs hit the market, the profits of the drug trade expand. At dance parties in Holland, ecstasy tablets are accepted as a norm.
They are even tested for purity at club venues. Experts have concluded that attempting a total clamp-down on drug trafficking can be counter-productive.
"The tougher the measures you take, the more interesting it becomes for some people to bring it in, because prices get higher and with higher prices you always find people who find it very attractive to bring it in," said Roal Karssamarks of the Drugs Prevention Centre.
Getting a grip on organised crime in the cities of Europe can seem like wishful thinking. As international borders open up, the criminals can ply their trade more easily and faster.
The British Government believes that there is only one way in which people can fight back - by knowing exactly how the enemy works.
Behind the walls of what was the Gestapo's headquarters in Rotterdam, Holland, are the offices of Europe's police force. Europol will this year bring together 300 officers from every EU state, and preventing crime will top their agenda.
But Europol's chief warns that we should expect no miracles.
"There will not be an end to crime. But I think that we can have a balance, and crime will not take over our society and our economy," said Jurgen Stenerbeck, Director of Europol.
"There will always be crime in the future, that's for sure. Police alone, customs authorities alone, cannot do the job. We need a common approach by the whole of society and all our states."
A people's Europe cannot be a Europe without victims. But co-operation must be backed by political muscle to keep Europe's underworld at bay.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
UK: Deadly drug – January 1997 Deadly drug
By thisislancashire - Friday 17 January 1997
Copyright: thisislancashire
THE fatuous utterings by East 17 lead singer Brian Harvey on taking the deadly drug Ecstasy were rightly condemned.
In a radio interview, he claimed that the drug made "you a better person," and said he had taken 12 tablets in one night with no ill-effects. In the storm of protest that followed - including one radio station banning the group's music - he made a pathetic u-turn, urging fans not to take the rave drug.
Although everyone knows that Ecstasy kills, and regularly, youngsters intent on enjoying themselves still take it. And all the positive publicity, campaigns and appeals to persuade takers to quit are forgotten when anyone perceived as a spokesperson for the young says it's OK.
The cynic might look at where East 17 currently stands in the popularity stakes compared to groups like Boyzone, and wonder if Harvey was simply looking for a quick route to the headlines. He certainly found it, to his cost.
http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/
UK: Airwaves rave on ECSTASY shocker – January 1997 Airwaves rave on Ecstasy shocker
By thisislancashire - Friday 17 January 1997
Copyright: thisislancashire
AN outraged radio DJ smashed up East 17 records and swore on air in protest at singer Brian Harvey's controversial comments about Ecstasy.
Red Rose Rock FM morning presenter Kev Seed launched a 30-minute tirade against the band before announcing a ban on their records.
His actions, later backed by station bosses, came after he heard Harvey claim Ecstasy was a safe drug, that he had taken up to 12 Ecstasy tablets in one night and that he had driven home after taking a pill.
Seed responded by grabbing all the band's records which were stored in the studio and smashing them up.
The outburst yesterday prompted 200 phone calls from listeners supporting the 28-year-old DJ's actions.
Seed said: "It's outrageous. It is the tablet that killed Leah Betts and it is a tablet which is quite likely to kill me or any of my listeners if we decided to try it."
And programme director Paul Jordan said the station would not play the band's new single Hey Child, even if it went to Number One. Harvey later apologised for his statement and urged youngsters not to take the drug.
But Mr Jordan said: "The ban on East 17 records will last for the foreseeable future. The management has endorsed the decision.
"We feel that we cannot have high profile people saying such things and hopefully our decision, as market leader in the North West, will seriously affect the band's fan base in this area.
"Kev's language came out in the heat of the moment. He was incensed but his feelings were supported by every call we received.
"We obviously wouldn't want him to repeat the language he used but we will not be taking any action against him."
The ban was mirrored by radio and TV stations around the country yesterday.
http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/
Uk Tek 2003 Thousands attend illegal rave - a tale of 2 teks... this being the UKtek...
We dint kno wottek were we at then but as long as it was atek :) Dunno about thousands attending either... few hundreds maybe.
We arrived on site early saturday morning having driven thru the night... The decision was made to leave at about 10/11pm cuz we were worried about roadblocks... after packing and meeting up we left at about 1am and visited various petrol stations then we had to wait a bit more to fix one of the
convoy's accelerator pedal . Official brighton depart 3am... arrived in safeway carpark down the road from the site 9am-ish...
Word was that the farm had been squatted for 13 years or summat and that it had just been sold to barclays bank as squatters rights dont apply to agricultural land? Anyone confirm this and or get a different story?
What does fucking barclays want with the land anyway?? can a bank go out and buy up land? i suppose they;re the only sort that can afford it these days.
We stayed on site ina lovely apple orchard where the travellers were camped, which was scary at first but everyone was cool (except the kidz who pulled out all the tent pegs (twice) ;)
We were wondering if we were at the "rightek" for the whole of saturday... Thought it might be like a private traveller party or summat! we were definitely outsiders but not at all ignored or anything, people would pop up and chat as any camp / festie / tek / gathering style would be, swapped stories and or
info... Sometimes sharing some food, drink other times buying 'rugZ :D we phoned some numbers numbers during the day but the partylines were not open till later.
When we got through on the phonelines it seemed that other ppl were being directed to where we were.. this coupled with the fact that a dirty great digger was parked over the entrance to the camp site we decided to stay.
It dint seem that by 10pm or whenever it started to get dark on saturday that not many more rigs were going to turn up, although there were a fair few - it was good / went all mad max by sunday :)) we didn't know if the other site planned or a random act... we wanted to go and check it out.. but there were
enough ppl there to create a thriving tek community... some food stalls arrived, in fact i dunno how so many more rigs etc seemed to arrive on sunday maybe, maybe i'm not remembering everything exactly (although i hadda stay a bit sober on sunday lunch onwards cuz of the drive home!) what i do remember was being a bit worried about using my camera (as normal) which is annoying now in retrospect cuz it was fine and now there are no pictures of the punk band stage or any of the smaller rigs that lined that field... sorry.
1 tek would have been amazing tho 2 would be more difficult to control for the po-lice at the end of the day... the roadblocks and overtime musta also been a bit expensive. it seems that there were 2 teks b'cuz some rigs were wary of going onto the travellers site and were not aware that they had been invited, by the time rigs had set up in either location and found out about the other they dint want to pack down again and move - and i dont blame em! i wunder who'll leave firstthe travellers or the p1Gz.. the former will probably stay till they r evicted i think. as for Christine Rosearsh... (a local who lives nearby whining to the bbc) erm, she must sleep like one of the ancient dead for 362 daze of the year ffs... IF there were 3000 ppl having fun there, whorl true to the western worlds definition of "humanitarianism"... its collateral damage init :)
The police came on site 2 or 3 times... the traveller kids made a direct route for them when they arrived.. like *yay* lets go play with the police. the 3rd time they were followed round the site by a crowd which grew and grew... helicopter came out about about 4/5 times turning tricks and loop the loops... entertaining but a waste of money.......... the bbc reports are true that ppl were hurling bottles and stones at them but tbh they were never a danger they po-lice were far far away from where these missiles landed...
In the campsite a couple of the smaller tents got rolled for their contents... look, i'm sorry, bad stuff sometimes happens - trick is to minimalise the damage: YOU ARE ASKING FOR TROUBLE IF YOU LEAVE IMPORTANT KEYS, PHONES AND/OR WALLETS IN AN EMPTY TENT!
PLUR
matthecat
Queen’s Day 2003 After Party – Q2 2003 Queen's Day After Party, Amsterdam, Holland - Spring 2003
Published by Zirk*
We started this free gig around 22:00. The public had a heavy Koniginnedag (Queensday) with a big big party under the bridge. Some of them should be drunk and very tired. We had no idea what to expect. Every item was there, only the record players were not there and we ordered Taxi Anders to get the players ASAP. In the mean time Tommy let us listen to very interesting and beautiful ambient sounds. The players arrived at 23:00 so from that moment Tommy started to play some more groovy tunes.
There was no single incident whatsoever and the crowd was really friendly and open. The vibe was top! Fluofairy had a small party tent in the tunnel and Laurent displayed there is fluo art together with a little smart shop. Tina (from@tobee) came with a "bakfiets" bike and was making caiprihina / ice drinks. Our bar was selling cold and warm beer , juices, mixes, Thai red bull and gave water for free.
Satyr followed and made with a Techno/trance set our mood in the right direction. Steven HC, loaded with Brazilian unreleased sounds had the honour to let the people jump around at grow in amount from approx. 500 to 800. Then suddenly at 3 AM there were three police men at the property. Zirk saw them just a second earlier then they saw him and blinded them with the flashlight. They angry ordered to stop the sound in 15 min. and let every body out quietly.
They waited outside in their car and when they saw about 50 people leaving, they left as well. We decided to ask the crowd to move quickly their bikes from the street into the tunnel. This way it would look empty to the police when they check again. Now we started up the music on the old volume. Cyber chick (Lorance) followed with pure psytrance and gave a lot of people joy with kick ass tracks, although mixing was difficult since one record player was broken.
The whole night we had a very strict policy for the area behind the dj booth, because our last tunnel party somebody stole our small change money. this time even Dj's were kindly ask not to stay in the back, so even their luggage and records were safely kept with us.
At six the police made a short phone call about still hearing music. they gave an official warning and said that the next violation would end in confiscation of sound equipment. Nevertheless we decided to continue, the sound equipment is not that important to us. Stella Nutella was basically delayed because of missing / stolen luggage during her trip from Brazil, and Riches took the decks over for so long. With him we are always guaranteed for the right , appropriate type of music for the time of the day. He slowly brought the bpm down to a more morning trance rhythm.
Stella arrived at 7 AM and wanted to start quickly, there were still about 500 people and it seemed they wanted more beats! Quickly the depression lightened up at Stella her face from the tracks she played and that happy feeling seemed to be beamed right to the public; the place was jumping from the nice and happy tunes in the tunnel. at 7:30 a lot of tunnel engineers, constructors and work men suddenly came to take a look and we gave them a VIP treatment. even the owner of the genie-lift gave us another four hours to use it as a DJ booth and would go on their paper work.
At 9 AM suddenly there were policemen and they stopped the music on a rude way. After some talks they let us clean the place in our own tempo, no confiscating took place the police were friendly to us in the end. So were the constructors. The next day they helped us with removing the mobile toilet with their shovel and placing it back exactly on the place where we found it....
Dutchtek 2002 – September 2002 Dutchtek 2002 party report
Dutchtek was wicked this year... Although it was predictably a lot smaller then last year (this year only about 3 foreign systems made it, last year you couldn't count the walls) but it was nice though. It was near the German border in a small nature conservation but the field which has been chosen had nothing special, just weed. It had trees surrounding it and you couldn't hear any music in the places nearby. Unfortunately our truck (a huge rented one) loaded with the speakers of 3 systems got nicked before the teknival had begun. It got stuck with one wheel in a ditch making it an easy target for the "fastly got together" riot squad who was thinking they had the "organisation" of the party when they were holding the truck. A pity for them that all the other systems were able to drive on the field behind their backs and they start building up their systems right away. While the police still was holding the truck the first sounds starting pumping on the field. Saturday during they day the police started spreading almost the same flyers as they did in Moerdijk in 2001, pointing us on the fact that we are attending at an "illegal houseparty" and basically that we had leave immediately...
Of course, no-one did, but we were afraid that the same would happen as last year (Last year a lot of systems were nicked and it was a bitch to get em back .. it took about a month!). They police threatened to clear the area but we didn't see many coppers around so no-one stopped and when the hours pass we realized we would have a Saturday night this year. It became darker and darker and we had a really wicked night with sounds pumping all over the place, beautiful lights, happy people and that in a nice nature environment. It was really cool. In the morning we have this feeling "they can't take this from us anymore" but slowly it became clear that the police was setting up something and yes, riot squad officiers were all over the place. Why? No-one knew, there had been no incidents and no complaints (maybe only from people who were bothered by all the party freaks parking their cars in the neighborhood because the police had closed some of the gates (you could enter the party through the forest anyway).
At about 11:00 the teknival stopped and everybody started to pack. A line of riot squad forced us to get the hell out. We didn't start a riot or whatever but calmly we moved out. Like always, no aggression. Unfortunately they decided to steal our equipment again, and every car was searched while getting out of the area. Speakers, amplifiers, trucks everything was taken. Goddamn!! Not like last year nooooo! Gladly it became clear that the police didn't have any legal ground to hold our stuff and I guess they just want to get rid of everything so everybody was allowed to get his rigs and everything back. Quite a happy end compared to last year. This year there also was a lot of media attention. I guess there was no other news because it was on the front-page of almost every newspaper and in the news of national TV stations. The whole Netherlands did hear of those strange, international, illegal events now, but still no-one knows really knows much more than that they're called "illegal house parties". One time a year the Dutch (and Europe) underground steps into the light and that's it.
Too bad our new right winged cabinet is starting to ask questions already and wants to create measures to prevent this from happening again. Well I think they already did take those measures while taking our rigs again and blowing it up in the press. All together you start thinking "is it worth it" and I think it's not. But we'll see next year if we're doing another Dutchtek (and maybe this time organised different).
Greetz, Henry
Mutant Dance party bust report – July 2002 Mutant Dance party report
By penelope pitstop - Monday July 20 2002
Excellent party, shame about the performance from the police. A totally brutal and un-called for attack on party people.
We were treated like hooligans and unnecessary violence was applied by the police. To much to their disappointment many people did not retaliate against them with violence therefore they had to try and taunt us to respond.
I myself was hit in the face with an officers shield whilst trying to help a friend up from the floor who had been bashed down by a male officer, as she tried to pick up her bag from the floor the officer repeatedly forced his shield into her. I have bruising to my nose and elbow from trying to get away from him.
I have responded to the Bristol Evening Posts article inour defense and hopefully they will not distort my story in anyway. They are VERY interested in our point of view and our feelings on the subject.
Should anyone else who was injured or would like to add their point of view please contact the Bristol Evening Post.
Penelope PitStop
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