Police party raid round up

Time for another round up of international police party action - did you know that in some parts of the USA teenagers can be arrested for loitering in a place where alcohol is served even if they're not drinking? Read on:

USA

'After the arrest of more than 100 underage customers of a downtown Hartford nightclub Thursday, many parents were puzzled about why youths were arrested even if they weren't drinking. The club, Temptation on Asylum, advertises an 18-and-over night on Thursdays, when underage patrons can dance on the first floor, where no alcohol is supposed to be served. But in a sting operation Thursday night, Hartford police raided the club, found alcohol where it wasn't supposed to be and arrested 117 people - including 113 youths aged 17-20. On the floor where underage customers were permitted, police said they found a fully stocked bar, tapped kegs from which pitchers of beer were being sold for $2 each and full pitchers throughout the area. Police arrested everyone who was underage, loaded them into police vans and drove them to the department's booking facility, which Sgt. Dave Dufault said was "stacked beyond capacity."

Police could not say Friday how many of the minors arrested actually were drinking. Most were arrested on charges of loitering where alcohol is sold. Some of the youths on Friday maintained they had not been drinking and remained confused about what they had done wrong. It is against the law for anyone under 21 to loiter in an establishment with a permit to sell alcohol'.

Hartford Courant, 24 March 2007

Wales

'Five people have been arrested after police in riot gear broke up a three day illegal rave in an ancient woodland in Monmouthshire. Gwent Police drafted in extra help to disperse the estimated 3,000 people and around 1,000 vehicles at the illegal gathering in Wentwood Forest. Officers seized 10 large trucks containing powerful sound equipment. Upwards of 250 police officers were involved in the operation and according to Gwent Police it was the biggest illegal rave in the force's area. Officers were drafted in from Avon and Somerset, Gloucestershire, West Mercia and South Wales Police to help'.

BBC News, 9 April 2007

Zimbabwe

'A police crackdown in Zimbabwe moved into well-to-do residential suburbs in the nation's capital where scores of teenagers were detained in a raid on a popular disco, witnesses said on Sunday. Some of the teenagers - both blacks and whites - were hit with riot batons and slapped by paramilitary police who said they were clamping down on alleged underage drinking, witnesses said. Others were not carrying identity cards required under security laws. Several of the youths were treated for shock after at least 100 were taken in two police buses to the feared downtown central police station from the "Glow" nightclub in Harare's affluent Borrowdale district in the early hours of Saturday. The raid came after police shut down bars and beer halls in impoverished townships in an undeclared curfew during a surge in political tension since police violently stopped an opposition-led prayer meeting in western Harare on March 11'.

News24, 1 April 2007

Fiji

'Police may now seek the assistance of the military to raid those nightclubs in the Central Division, who are opening after 1am. Assistant Commissioner of Police Operations SSP Jahir Khan said that after the military coup last year all the nightclub owners were closing the nightclubs on time [but] they are breaking the law again over the past weekends. ACP Khan also warned the nightclub owners that they will request the Commissioner Central not to renew the license of those nightclub owners who will be caught in the illegal act'.

Fiji Village new, 31 March 2007