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August 24, 2005
SWAT Team Raids Utah Ravers
By Ann Harrison ah@well.com Seems a local SWAT team got a little twitchy in Utah Sunday night and decided to launch a mililtary style raid on 1,500 ravers outside Salt Lake City. The sheriff's department brought in helicopters and ordered everyone out with maximum brutaliity. The event is likely to spark lawsuits highlighting increasing police violence in anti-drug operations.Witnesses say SWAT commandos in full riot gear beat male and female ravers, attacked with police dogs, pointed their assault rifles and launched tear gas into the crowd that was attempting to exit peacefully. Performers said the event had the correct permits and took place on private land.
According ot the Salt Lake City Tribune videos of the scene show "the area where people were dancing transformed into what looked like a battlefield with groups of officers surrounding ravers on the ground, guns drawn and assault dogs in tow."
"I stand by everything that was done there that night," Utah County Sheriff James Tracy told the Tribune. Authorities said the raid was a danger because it lacked the proper permits and drugs were found. Sheriff Tracy denies charges of abuse and gross violation of civil liberties. "It's a lie and we refute every word of it," said Tracy.
You can read several outraged and very sorrowful accounts of the raid by witnesses here.
Posted by ann at August 24, 2005 01:54 AM