The Good Rid Dance and Channel 5


The Good rid Dance and Chanel 05 24.11.07
The good rid dance went without a hitch outside the Newtown neighborhood centre with the crowd celebrating the news that the libs were on the run informed by a live video feed on projected on the wall of the Hub. As Howard conceded defeat the atmosphere was lively as cans were thrown at the projected image and champagne bottles exploded. Then the dance floor swelled till about half an hour after the agreed end of the event that was negotiated with police.
After D.J’s Toecutter, Zeitgeist, Sumu, Drop Bear and Mashy P played some tunes the cops came and hi fived the D.J’s. A few speeches were made and the event closed down as people made there plans to go to ‘Chanel no 5’ free party. I got there at about and it was going off, four spaces in a factory yard. The massive drum and bass rig rumbled, a lively funk folk band played on a full concert size stage set up, Old school funk played on under a massive mirror ball on a smaller rig and it was all celebration and laughter as the full moon beamed down. Punters danced in joy as the Wicked Liberal witch was squashed. The vibe was high in all four areas. Soon the first rumors of cops came through, and then their cars rocked up amongst the massive stream of people entering the party. People were trying to get in over fences with cops in pursuit. I witnessed a cop violently tackling a guy and I went to intervene loudly telling the cop not to be violent. For this I got a full high pressure stream of capsicum spray in my right eye and across my face to my ear. It was like having the hottest curry imaginable slammed high pressure into my face. I was out of action for half and hour emptying water in my face and trying to cope with the searing pain. Having regained my breathing pattern. I noticed a large crowd had started drumming in defiance of the cop’s aggressive style of dealing with them. Over the next hour the crowd was escorted out, one sound system remained on down a side alley and was the last stand. Eventually this area was cleared too and the crowd re gathered on the corner of Macaulay and Macevoy street, a large drumming mob kept the party vibe happening. A woman was badly bashed who was in the way of the riot police juggernaut, she was trying to comply and beaten till she didn’t move. The cop that did this should be fired immediately.
The Police’s bungled operation put people in serious risk; they pushed the crowd out into a road that was not blocked properly.
Pandemonium broke loose when a tow truck cruised by trying to move through the crowd who were being pushed towards it in the opposite direction by the police. As the truck stopped about fifty people got up and danced on the truck like it was a podium. It looked like the truck driver was starting to tilt the tray to try and get rid of the dancing mass. Then suddenly he put it into gear and half the crowd fell onto the road off the back of the truck. Its amazing how nobody was hurt, after this the truck moved on and the police pushed the crowd down the road and into side streets using dogs and arresting some. I was shoved down a side street separating me from some of my friends. I returned to a nearby warehouse where some of the scattered crowd had settled. Here I heard stories of a counter surge against the police before the mass was finally dissipated. The police technique was excessive and violent and needs to be exposed. They should have read the situation more skillfully on a night where it was obvious there would be high spirits. If anyone has information or stories that illustrate the unnecessary police violence on the night please bring them forward.

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