Abstract
This article analyzes the relationship between underground raves and law enforcement authorities. It is centred on the police raid of the OTUM rave festival held on the uninhabited island of Anbaraa in the Maldives, specifically focusing on the perceptions of ravers present during the raid of the OTUM rave festival. The data on which this paper is based stems from open-ended interviews with ravers who were present during the raid. Ravers felt that police used excessive force at the rave festival. They arrested 79 ravers for possessing recreational substances, including LSD, cannabis, and ecstasy. The police raided the rave festival due to pressure from religious clerics and to appease the more conservative members of the mainstream society. The results from this study suggest that treating ravers as criminals and threatening them with imprisonment creates a disconnection between the underground rave community and the mainstream society, widening rather than healing divides and reinforcing ideas of deviance and resistance.