Revelers early yesterday began leaving an illegal New Year rave in northwestern France that drew about 2,500 people, led to clashes with police and sparked concerns that it could spread COVID-19.
The local prefecture said in a statement that the music had been switched off after two nights and the first revellers began leaving the site before dawn.
“There has been no intervention by security forces,” it said in a statement, but added that police were checking all those leaving the site.
Photo: AFP
The revelers had set up the illegal rave in Lieuron, south of Rennes in Brittany, after skirmishes with police, the prefecture said in the statement.
Local gendarmes tried to “prevent this event, but faced fierce hostility from many partygoers,” who set one of their vehicles on fire and threw bottles and stones, the statement said.
Those present had come from across France and even abroad, it said.
By Friday evening, the sound of techno music could still be heard from the party venue, although police were preventing any newcomers from joining the rave, an Agence France-Presse photographer said.
“Police controls are taking place around the site. Verbal warnings are being given to everyone leaving,” the police said on social media.
Speaking later on BFM TV, French Ministry of the Interior spokeswoman Camille Chaize said there had been “great hostility, great violence” against the forces of law and order.
Such mass gatherings are strictly prohibited across France to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and a nationwide 8pm curfew — which was not lifted for New Year — applies across the country.
Reports said that the rave party took place in an empty warehouse belonging to a storage company.
Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the illegal organization of a musical gathering and premeditated violence against persons in authority.
Participants interviewed by reporters said that the revelers had included partygoers from foreign countries, including Spain and the UK.
One participant, who gave his name as Jo from the Alsace region of eastern France and refused to be identified further, said they had all met at a designated spot on Thursday evening in the parking lot of a shopping center.
A convoy then headed for Lieuron, where the police tried to prevent them from passing, he said.
He said that “very few had respected social distancing” at the event.
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