Report from the Newswire:

Meanwhile back in the UK, over the Easter bank holiday weekend two major multi-rig parties went off. One in S Wales, the other near Peterborough.

The free party scene here in the uk has been increasingly under attack since last year, when the authorities switched tactics and started using the fairly recently amended Public Entertainments License (PEL) legislation against parties. It used to be that the police had a hard job to prove who was an organiser of any given party, but thanks to the changes, almost anyone who brings or drives PA speakers or electronic musical equipment, records, lights (ie 'infrastructure') etc to the site can be classed as an organiser.

The aggressive use of this amended PEL law last year saw an increased number of seizures of sound systems at parties, more arrests, and importantly more prosecutions and pending prosecutions against members of sound system crews. Many have responded by keeping the information about their parties off the web, encouraging people not to publish photos of parties, and during the winter some have opted to hold members only parties.

The uk has a long history of the persecution of free festivals and parties, this is the latest chapter.

The nanny/control-freak-state seems to increase its reach every week, clamping down further and further both on unlicensed fun and civil liberties. That said, week in week out, free parties kick off all over the country every weekend.

Here comes the summer...