| Subject: Re: utah rave abuse reports |
Author:
Betty
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Date Posted: 02:23:28 08/23/05 Tue
In reply to:
Betty
's message, "utah rave abuse reports" on 02:11:29 08/23/05 Tue
Dylan's Avatar
Dylan Dylan is offline
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Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 66
I made my way down to the second stage, said a quick hello to a few friends that were there, and started walking up towards the main stage. I was about half way up the path when I heard the music cut out from behind me. I could still hear the generator running, so I couldn't figure out why the music had stopped, but I just assumed they were having technical difficulties and thought nothing of it. I thought I'd probably head back down that way in a few minutes to see if there was anything I could do if they were having problems with the equipment, but I still wanted to go find a few people since I had just barely arrived. As I start walking back towards the main stage, I overheard a random person in the crowd yelling that the SWAT team had arrived and were shutting everything down.
I've been to a number of shows, and seen a fair share of them shut down, but I couldn't believe it was happening tonight. It was my understanding everything had been handled to ensure proper permits, legitimate private property with complete consent and understanding from all angles. I heard many people later explaining just how far the promoter of this show went to ensure everything went smoothly. I looked to my right and noticed police officers trudging through the bushes towards the main stage. Local enforcement was obvious, but I still couldn't believe that the SWAT team was there. I got to the main stage, saw a few more friends there, and just waited for a brief moment to see how it would pan out. What I had anticipated, as had happened before, would be music shut down, an officer barks a few orders on the microphone, kids with paraphernalia are searched and/or arrested, the furor dies down, and usually a suitable compromise is made. We turn the music down a bit, kids are asked to leave, but those who are truely there to have fun, to enjoy themselves, be there only for the music, get to stay and pan out the rest of their evening. That wasn't the case this time around.
After the main stage was shut down, the circling helicopter was getting closer to the ground, and that's when I saw the men in fatigues brandishing assult rifles. I had told a friend of mine to calm down, go with whatever happens, and we'll see how it works out. Thats when I spun around to see that innocent people on stage were recoiling in horror from having guns waved at them and orders barked. I can remember one officer in particular demanding that the record not just stop, but that everything had to be completely turned off, which people were scrambling to try comply with the demands, but that's not as easy to do when you're fearing for your life, I can only imagine. As people were rushing to try to collect their belongings, records, tents, audio equipment, the SWAT kept waiving their guns around and demanding microphone access after they had already had everything turned off and shut down. A man in uniform approached me and barked the order that I was to return to my car with no delay and leave. Even though previous experiences were less intense, I had been in that possition a time or two before, I feel a little veterened in handling such a situation. You win some, you lose some, I knew I was going home this time, but there's never any harm in a quick dialog between bystander and enforcement. In more words or less, I made it apparent that I was on my way out, I would passivly comply with whatever was needed to make this go easy, but I wanted to know under which grounds I was being evicted from my peacefull, private gathering. Usually when you show a voice of reason and zero threat of violence, you can at least talk with an officer for a bit. I was only able to ask my first question in a series that I had carefully planned, but the response I recieved was a curled lip, even more violent shouting, a gun pointed at me, and the threat that if I asked a single other question I would be detained or disabled my any means necessary. This is when I saw the dogs attacking people, and other kids being tackled by 3-4 of these "civil servents" at a time. I felt violated. I had done nothing to deserve that kind of treatment, but I felt I had to do what I could to try help other kids not get themselves in trouble. I told people to put there cameras away, I quelled a fair share of the anti-police sentiment amoungst the groups around me. Our small protest, albeit nonviolent, was better saved for another time.
I noticed in most of the shouting, many of the men in fatigues had trouble annunciating, indicating they were so full of adrenaline, who knows how itchy trigger fingers could have been. This full scale assult had obviously been carefully planned. I'm sure it took quite a bit of preperation to get this assult team properly geared up, get the helicopter ready, have probably every single bit of local enforcement that they could muster. There were even several reported sightings of morse code being blinked back and forth between opposite ends of the valley we were in. Many of these officers had also been recognized as being at parties previously, dating back as far as 2001 for shutting events down, and then being undercover at other shows later. Carefull planning indeed, but I am appalled. If you really felt you needed to, you could shut a show down with a handfull of cops and not a single gun comming unholstered. Although upset, there's no harm in being reasonable, there are so many other ways this could have been handled. I reprehend your execution on this one Utah County.
I suppose this is the result of a bored little army, but I feel dehumanized when treated like a terrorist when standing on the soil of a country I show patriotism for just as much as anyone. I've always been a big supporter of ending the war, support the troops, bring them home, yet suddenly a war of some nature is brought to me, and I am the enemy. Am I a criminal? Am I a terrorist? Verbage is freely open to interpretation, but there is no reprimand for such a severe punishment that was threatened upon me. Had I inadvertantly said the wrong thing, or quickly moved my hand, or something that seemed imposing to one of these fatigued men, what's to stop me from quickly becoming a casualty of a battle that had no reason to happen in the first place? This night will bear the example of the most unnecessary act of force that Utah has seen all in the name of the Reducing American's Vulnerability to Ecstacy Act. Tax dollars well spent to ensure my safety, and the safety of my future children.
-Dylan L Elder
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