Police Conduct “Unnecessarily Aggressive” Raid of Under Club in Buenos Aires

Under Club, a fixture of the Buenos Aires techno community, was the subject of a five-month investigation that led to four arrests on July 5.

Under Club, a well-known Buenos Aires techno institution, was the subject of a police raid in the early hours of July 5 that resulted in the arrests of three staff members and one patron.

Citing anonymous eyewitnesses, Resident Advisor reports that plainclothes officers entered the club between 1:30 and 2am. They ended the music, turned on the lights, and demanded that everyone sit on the floor before about 40 officers in riot gear followed. They allegedly searched lockers and bags before making everyone form two lines and then aggressively searching them as well.

“The whole atmosphere felt unnecessarily aggressive,” said one eyewitness. “They divided everyone into two areas — dance floor and backstage — and started taking people upstairs in small groups to search them, which really scared us. I saw the managers of the club go up there and never come back down.”

Another reportedly said that everyone in Under Club remained compliant until the raid was over. “We had no idea what was happening,” they said. “We didn’t know what they were going to do or how long we’d have to stay. Despite that, people really collaborated with the situation.”

Those arrested in the raid were released by July 8, according to a statement shared on Instagram by Under Club. “We have received the news that the preventive detention … has been rejected,” it read, going on to say that “for 70 hours, they were deprived of their freedom and unable to hug their loved ones.”

The investigation stemmed from an incident in which a 21-year-old girl named Luna Álvarez Debali died in a hospital two days after attending Under Club. She reportedly consumed drugs prior to her arrival and also bought MDMA pills inside. Under Club’s statement says that all of its staff are against the sale of drugs inside the venue, and it rejects an existing narrative that they ejected Debali from the club to fend for herself.

Under Club has remained closed ever since the police raid.