black helicopters, swat teams with assault rifles dressed in camo... sounds like the worst delusions of a burnt-out raver, right? wrong:
The helicopter dipped lower and lower and started shining its lights on the crowd. I was kind of in awe and just sat and watched this thing circle us for a minute. As I looked back towards the crowd I saw a guy dressed in camoflauge walking by, toting an assault rifle. At this point, everyone was fully aware of what was going on . A few "troops" rushed the stage and cut the sound off and started yelling that everyone "get the fuck out of here or go to jail". This is where it got really sticky.
No one resisted. That's for sure. They had police dogs raiding the crowd of people and I saw a dog signal out a guy who obviously had some drugs on him. The soldiers attacked the guy (4 of them on 1), and kicked him a few times in the ribs and had their knees in his back and sides. As they were cuffing him, there was about 1000 kids trying to leave in the backdrop, peacefully. Next thing I know, A can of fucking TEAR GAS is launched into the crowd. People are running and screaming at this point. Girls are crying, guys are cussing... bad scene.
Now, this is all I saw with my own eyes, but I heard plenty of other accounts of the night. Now this isnt gossip I heard from some candy raver, these are instances cited straight out of the promoters mouth..
* One of the promoters friends (a very small female) was attacked by one of the police dogs. As she struggled to get away from it, the police tackled her. 3 grown men proceeded to KICK HER IN THE STOMACH.
* The police confiscated 3 video tapes in total. People were trying to document what was happening out there. The police saw one guy filming and ran after him, tackled him and his camera fell, and luckily.. his friend grabbed it and ran and got away. priceless footage. That's not all though. Out of 1,500 people, there's sure to be more footage.
* The police were rounding up the staff of the party and the main promoter went up to them with the permit for the show and said "here, I have the permit." The police then said, "no you don't" and ripped the permit out of his hand. Then, they put an assault rifle to his forehead and said "get the fuck out of here right now."
there's video (mirror here, and it's surreal... one second it's a normal dance party with the dj spinnin' some dnb; the next the place is swarming with soldier-looking men in camouflage beating the shit out of people.
not much attention in the corporate media (other than the usual apologists) but the blogs have started to pick it up. and of course, bulletin boards:
That was seriously one of the most fucked up things I have ever witnessed. Beating down innocent women and people who weren't doing anything illegal! I don't know what to think right now. I feel like there needs to be an uprising, legal action, and a change of governement. This is seriously fucked up.
I was there and im lucky to alive some fuckin army guy grabbed me by the neck and threw me down he said if I wasnt compliant I would goto jail but im only 16 so I wasnt scared.but alot of my friends were there and they were on e so I hope they got home safe.its some brutal shit there fucking dumb ass k-9s attacked some girls and mauled them.I was just helping a friend sell his energy drink at the fuckin thing and those pigs were being such dicks.I shoulda punched that fuckin pig in the face.they tried to arrest my sister cause she was bitchin them out for beating everyone up.
I saw a soldier tell a kid to give him his camera and the dude said no it's my camera, and the soldier through the camera, called 6 other cops and they beat him down on the ground. He was probably knocked out cause he was completely lifelessly still.
And another chick whose friend got arrested was like what am I supposed to do? and the soldier yelled at her to get a ride. And she was like I can't you took my ride. THe guy then yelled that the girl had touched her and like 5 soldiers through her to the ground and manhandled her. That should never happend especially to a women.
I saw like 4 other people getting thrown around, but I don't have the details. I'm going to protest this at bush's visit. Those fuckers probably did this to gain browny points with bush. We should have signs that say: Long live versus, and Raving is not illegal. And We have no rights, the military has removed them.
I was over at the second stage when the cops showed up. Sean says 'that looks like an ambulence' and I'm all 'I bet it's a patty wagon' little did I know it really was. A couple minutes later we see flashlights and all of a sudden have MP-5 sub-machineguns put in our faces. My hands go straight up and I freeze.. a few seconds later the helicopter starts circling the mainstage and I can only imagine the chaos there as the national guard approached the party.
After a few minutes of cops yelling at us not to move and questioning whether it was our equipment they told us to get the fuck out of dodge.. which we did immediately.
We ended up being some of the first people out of there since we were at the second stage.. The stories I heard of people being tackled, tasered and beaten for doing so much as taking pictures or questioning what was going on. I think they used this party as a training exercise for an entire fucking division about to go iraq. Seriously, that is unbelievable... they raided the place like it was a terrorist camp. What the fuck, a bunch of kids out in the mountains listening to music? The cops seemed to think everyone there was on drugs and treating people like they were escaped prisoners or something.
i only had to go as deep as page 2 (out of 31) to get these quotes...
the cops claim that the promoters were missing some kind of permit. that's the official story. of course, the cops always say that, even when it's a lie. and even if it were true, is the "crime" of a missing permit really so severe that they need to show up in riot gear with assault rifles and beat the shit out of a bunch of music lovers?¶
