Straight from the Raver's mouth

Due to a flood of public interest over the SWAT team attack on the event, the promoters of the Utah rave have set up a website that includes an official statement that answers the FAQs. They also have a section about the similar raid on Czechtek.

The police should not get away with this gross violation of civil rights and make no mistake about it, this "bust" is a direct result of the war on some drugs. Regular readers will recall when they passed the RAVE Act so many months ago, that the reform community predicted travesties like this would occur. The authors of the Act claimed they were keeping our kids safe from drugs when they passed it and promised it wouldn't be used to prohibit lawful assembly.

Although the raid on the Utah Rave was the most egregious attack on the right to peaceably assemble, it has already been used several times to shut down political speech at educational events organized by policy reformers that included music. It's not a war on drugs folks, it's a war on culture and a war on free expression.

Even if you've never been to a rave (and I haven't), don't let it pass unremarked. As the promoters ask, make some noise and don't stop talking until justice has been served in this case.

[hat tip to kaptinemo]