This past weekend hundreds of people gathered onto the UCLA Campus for what is known as the B-Boy Summit. This usually well attended event has become the signature conference for b-boys and b-girls world wide who are dedicated to advancing and preserving the various facets of hip hop culture. Last night the event found itself embroiled in controversy and making front page news due to altercations with Venice Police.

According to published police reports,the summit organizers held an 'illegal' party on Venice Beach at a place called the Grafitti Pit. This apparently was an alternative site after a previously planned event had been cancelled. The Coup along with KRS-One were supposed to perform at the initial concert. Because the group didn't have a permit and two rival dance crews got into a fight, the police moved in to shut things down. They were met with bottles and other debris being hurled at them and it wasn't too long before they were calling this a riot that needed to be quelled..Now this is the police version that has been circulating around the country.

Folks who went to the event are telling a vastly different story about the police being antagonistic and itching for an opportunity to shut things down. Folks seem to say there was some sort of altercation but nothing like was being described and certainly nothing that warranted the type of response excercised by police. Everyone seems to agree the police over reacted. Currently there has been no official statement from B-Boy Summit organizers, but I'm almost certain our good friends over a http://www.bboy.com will have some sort of official response. In any case based upon past experiences and the current rash of police brutality cases going on around the country, to say the least, I'm a bit skeptical of the official police accounts..We'll keep you posted as this story unfolds..