americans beware!... check this out

[fresh_an_funky_design]

Over a hundred innocent music fans in America were arrested last weekend after cops caught some of their fellow revellers with drugs and charged absolutely every present in the club.

Officers from the Flint Area Narcotics Group and the Genesee County Sheriff's Posse descended on Club What’s Next in Flint, Michigan carrying out ‘full cavity searches’ on women, before arresting 17 partygoers and charging them with felony drug offences. Everybody else present (including the DJ) was charged with ‘frequenting a drug establishment’ and now face 90 prison sentences if convicted.

The heavy handed assault drew an alarmed response from civil liberties group the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), who mobilised a campaign immediately urging clubbers to protest against the cops disturbing ‘abuse of power’.

“In Flint, Michigan (and many other cities) if you go out dancing on a Saturday night and the police happen to arrest other people at the club for drugs, you could be charged with a drug crime even though you had nothing to do with drugs,” the DPA warned this week.

“These innocent party-goers now face up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine. They also face a criminal record with all the legal and social barriers that brings.”

DPA director Bill Piper also challenged the raid’s legitimacy in an interview with Drug Sense Weekly, pointing out ‘it's un-American to punish people for the crimes of others.’

"Imagine you're having a beer at your favourite bar and the police come in and arrest you and everyone else in the bar because unknown to you someone is using drugs in the bathroom,” Mr Piper added, “ It's outrageous."

[dirty_bass]

I hope this is an april fools!!!! :shock:

Well, they voted for Bush and now they are heading into a serious police state.

The war on terror is a war against you.

[fresh_an_funky_design]

this is no piece of bull shit this is 100% true to my knowledge.

[audioinjection]

thats insane, ive never heard of that

[Traxx]

Only in amreica.

[Francisco Scaramanga]

This is definately 100% true, and its not the first time its been done either. But with a little luck, the charges will be dropped on all the innocents. The same thing happened somewhere else in the country, and after a huge campaign by the ACLU, various other activist groups, and a petition from the public, they managed to get the charges dropped. I've already emailed the mayor of Flint, all the council members, and the sheriffs department to let them know its not cool.

[Joseph Isaac]

Well, they voted for Bush and now they are heading into a serious police state.


Careful, barely half of America voted for this imbecile...the other half can only apologize to the rest of the world for having half of its country be so ignorant...

Here's a great quote:

To the rest of the World,

We did our best.

Signed,

Half of the United States.





BTW, I am fortunate enough to live in a city where 79% of all people voted against Bush and we are the only city that challenges the current "police state" practices instilled by the federal government. No wonder George Bush Sr. called Portland, "Little Beirut".

Cheers

[The Overfiend]

gotta love it

[Joseph Isaac]

Americuh, FCK YEAH!!!

[dirty_bass]

Well, they voted for Bush and now they are heading into a serious police state.


Careful, barely half of America voted for this imbecile...the other half can only apologize to the rest of the world for having half of its country be so ignorant...

Here's a great quote:

To the rest of the World,

We did our best.

Signed,

Half of the United States.





BTW, I am fortunate enough to live in a city where 79% of all people voted against Bush and we are the only city that challenges the current "police state" practices instilled by the federal government. No wonder George Bush Sr. called Portland, "Little Beirut".

Cheers


hehe
I know man, it`s the same here.
Unfortunately the people who should be voting just don`t bother.

[Francisco Scaramanga]

I fully support drug law reforms, so am subscribed to a few groups who work towards this. This is how I found out about this situation, and it was through these people that I sent the email to the Flint councillors and everything. They do alot of good work (like hopefully getting these poor bastards off the hook) and it costs nothing to be on the newslist, and you can help out with very little effort, basically just signing your name to a form email occasionally.

If anyone is interested, go here to sign up:

http://www.drugpolicy.org/join

I should mention, you dont have to pay a fee and be a member, you can just sign up for the mailouts and sign petitions for free, which is what I do.

[Joseph Isaac]

hehe
I know man, it`s the same here.
Unfortunately the people who should be voting just don`t bother.

I know its truly pathetic, but the system is setup to keep the populus idle and ignorant and the elite ruling class has done an excellent job at that.

[g]

you don't understand: they literally have nothing better to do in Flint.

[djshiva]

even if all charges are dropped, if you are a woman who had to endure a full cavity search, your issues are gonna go on long after this case is over.

any one of you europeans have a comfy couch i can crash on? :cry:

[Internal Error Records]

about 15 years ago the police did the same thing to an ENTIRE grateful dead show.

about 5000 people.

nearly all charges were dropped.

[Komplex]

Well, they voted for Bush and now they are heading into a serious police state.


Careful, barely half of America voted for this imbecile...the other half can only apologize to the rest of the world for having half of its country be so ignorant...


I learned something today. America was founded by some of the smartest thinkers the world has ever seen. And they knew one thing: that a truely great country can go to war, and at the same time, act like it doesn't want to. It's called "having your cake and eating it too."

[Tony]

Americuh, FCK YEAH!!!

'lick my ass and suck on my balls!!'

[Joseph Isaac]

Americuh, FCK YEAH!!!

'lick my ass and suck on my balls!!'


LMAO :clap:

[Technobitch]

even if all charges are dropped, if you are a woman who had to endure a full cavity search, your issues are gonna go on long after this case is over.

any one of you europeans have a comfy couch i can crash on? :cry:

you are more than wellcome in North Wales anytime, police here tend to let us get on with it (usualy cant find the parties!!!)..
i thought our country's laws were ****ed up but this takes the piss!!!!
:nono:

[Mindful]

:shock:Fu*k me thats so stupid.

[g]

even if all charges are dropped, if you are a woman who had to endure a full cavity search, your issues are gonna go on long after this case is over.
this happened in... '95?.. at a party in detroit. several women got all kinds of violated simply because they were there. that was about par for the course for the detroit cops at the time.

[The Divide]

Only in the Land of the Free

And maybe in the UK if you vote for the Tories :doh:

[GothamGrooves.com]

I read about this, I cant imagine them being arrested, and it stayign with them. How can you arrest me for somethign some1 else did? especially the DJ ahahhah, america def has a lot of bs laws, not so free as we were led to believe..

[G-whizz]

I read about this, I cant imagine them being arrested, and it stayign with them. How can you arrest me for somethign some1 else did? especially the DJ ahahhah, america def has a lot of bs laws, not so free as we were led to believe..

I think there are many truly free people anymore !
most governments have sorted that
:doh:

[DJ Becka]

I read about this, I cant imagine them being arrested, and it stayign with them. How can you arrest me for somethign some1 else did? especially the DJ ahahhah, america def has a lot of bs laws, not so free as we were led to believe..


Which is why I am comforted knowing that I will be moving out of this country by next year -f*** America....land of the free my ass :roll:

[BRADLEE]

yeah man this really doesn't suprise me very much. We have it almost as bad as the people in germany under hitlers rule @ one time. Not quite to that extent @ this moment, but the US is using the same strategies as things from that time. They will make a new law and let it sit. Not enforcing it until the moment that they want to control things. I really don't think this will be the last we see of this sort....maybe even worse to come....

[The Overfiend]

Gap Yeah
Implants Yeah
Kool Aid Yeah!!!!!!!!!!
That song is still new to me Joe
Land of Double standards
but dude after moving to az
i see the benefits of promoting implants!
I love this place!!!!

[djshiva]

the thing that really bugs me is that after the uk passed the criminal justice bill back in the 90's, i told people here in the us that it would come to us next.

the only problem is, i knew they would take us down city by city, and it would be a little tougher to see the larger pattern.

no one wanted to think about it then. they just wanted to party and drug themselves into a stupor.

we had the chance to be proactive, and we blew it. now we're left reacting to little shit all over the country and so spread out it's tougher to fight it.

so now what?

we need to find a way to restructure how we get to hear techno. i wish i had an answer for that, but sadly, mine is just MORE HOUSE PARTIES!!!!

;)

[Internal Error Records]

This is old hat.

As long as police have existed, they have been abusing power to fulfill short term goals. They know very well that none of the charges will stick. But these arrests gave them the time to do one giant, convienient sweep and clear of their city.

It really has nothing to do with it being a rave. This has been done before to rock concerts, grateful dead shows, and probably 6 times a week to hip-hop/rap clubs.

[tocsin]

I hope this is an april fools!!!! :shock:

Well, they voted for Bush and now they are heading into a serious police state.

The war on terror is a war against you.

Here's some things to keep in mind on this. One, it wasn't BS from what I have looked into. Two, it's got zilch to do with federal politics in the slightest. It's not even as high up as the state government. The law used by the police, in this case, was a local municipal ordinance for the city of Flint. Personally, I don't think the city of Flint has a chance with this one. A key requirement is that everyone involved must have been intentionally attending a drug establishment. The club was licensed in the city, had a liquor license and had been open for business for some time. It was throwing a music event. If the party were at a crack house, the law might apply. But, saying that everyone was intentionally frequenting a drug establishment that happened to be having a concert with the full blessing from the city is a huge stretch.

[BRADLEE]

OHhhh Canada!!!!! :dance:

[GothamGrooves.com]

Unfortunately it has to do with a balance of power. The problem is that there is no balance. We have no voice. Ravers aside, if all the party people in the states were unified through votes and such, we would be represented in the gov't and would not be pushed around. However we do not and the result is put up or shut the fuk up!

[BRADLEE]

Unfortunately it has to do with a balance of power. The problem is that there is no balance. We have no voice. Ravers aside, if all the party people in the states were unified through votes and such, we would be represented in the gov't and would not be pushed around. However we do not and the result is put up or shut the fuk up!

I agree with this statement as well. it is hard to get the younger to people to really stand up for what they believe in unfortunately. If it takes almost any sort of initiative, most are just too lazy...

[audioinjection]

parties/raves whatever u wanna call them are like drugs.............no matter how hard you enforce them, they will still be around

[GothamGrooves.com]

Yes they may be around, but would u want to have a scene based on events where fear of getting shut down is immnent? or the people of that scene regarded as the lesser of society? Raves in America are basically dead, yet anything that has to do with electronic music is regarded as a "rave"... And since thats how they are regarded, the people of our scene will get no respect, and nothing we do will be taken seriosuly..

[tocsin]

I don't see how any organization of "party people" would have touched this at all. If you want to see such treatment of people end, it's an issue dealing with the war on drugs, not raves. The music was not the issue here. It was the drugs and some over-zealous pigs. I hope that everyone on the receiving end of the searches individually sues the shit out of the city of flint.