A WAR of words has broken out between the Gardaí and the organisers of a beach dance party in Ballyconneelly, Co. Galway which was closed down last week by 30 uniformed and plain-clothed officers.

Central to this is Superintendent Michael Curley's claim that he had to pull his men out of the area when they were threatened by sections of the 700-strong crowd.

"If the Gardaí had not withdrawn when they did," he told the Connacht Tribune, "it could have been a potentially lethal situation and there is no doubt that injuries would have occurred. The crowd turned extremely hostile and abusive and it was a very dangerous position to be in.

"It was a well organised event and the crowd were determined not to allow the Gardaí to break it up," he continues. "We believe that it was used as a means of drug selling and we will certainly not tolerate this sort of activity in our part of the country."

The accusations have been denied by Huppah Systemedia who say that, "As the organisers of the Saturday May 30th event we wish to make it clear that the sole purpose of the party was for people to have fun, camp out on the beach and enjoy the summer. The specific location was chosen because of its beauty and its remoteness. It was not about selling drugs."

The Gardaí arrived at 10pm and, according to the Huppah spokesman, "informed us that, even though it was on common land, the gathering was illegal and we had to leave the beach. Despite no warrants being shown, we invited the Gardaí to search for drugs and to take appropriate action if they found any.

"They then informed us that they were confiscating our equipment under the Combating the Misuse of Drugs Act. However, when we agreed to take the musical equipment away from the beach they guaranteed they would not then confiscate any gear. We proceded to load the equipment back into the van and make preparations to leave."

Huppah admit that there was trouble later in the evening when, they claim, "the Gardaí went back on their original agreement and tried to confiscate the generator that was powering the outside lighting system.

"One of the party-goers peacefully sat on the generator in protest at their actions," they maintain. "The Gardaí then aggressively tried to remove him. His girlfriend attempted to intervene to prevent his arrest but was also aggressively manhandled. At this point a small percentage of the crowd became aggressive. Some damage was inflicted on Gardaí vehicles which we don't condone but firmly believe was caused by their inadequate handling of the situation and broken promises."

There was more trouble on the Sunday afternoon when, according to the Huppah spokesman, "Five miles outside of Galway we were stopped by an enormous police blockade. About 15 vehicles were made to pull up on the side of the road and people were violently pulled out of their vehicles as at least two Gardaí screamed 'It's payback time!' Women and men were indiscriminately and violently abused and a number of non-nationals suffered racial abuse. We then had three vans and all the equipment used for the party confiscated without being issued any kind of inventory or receipt.

"To date," they conclude, "nobody has been arrested or charged in connection with these events and the equipment is still being held by the Gardaí."

Superintendent Michael Curley rejects the claim that his officers were in any way heavy-handed

"All I can say," he tells Hot Press, "is that when they came to the Garda checkpoint, some of them were put out at having their vehicles searched which is why I feel these spurious allegations have been made."