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France 24
Police clash with revellers as 2,500 break coronavirus restrictions at illegal French rave
Some 2,500 partygoers attended an unlawful New 12 months’s Eve rave in northwestern France, violently clashing with police who did not cease it and sparking concern the underground occasion might unfold the coronavirus, authorities mentioned Friday. The revellers had arrange the unlawful rave in Lieuron, south of Rennes in Brittany, after skirmishes with police, mentioned an announcement from the native prefecture. Many had been nonetheless on the location Friday as a sanitary cordon was thrown up round it.Native gendarmes tried to “stop this occasion however confronted fierce hostility from many partygoers” who set one among their vehicles of fireplace and threw bottles and stones, the assertion mentioned.These current had come from throughout France and even overseas, it mentioned.By Friday night, the sound of techno music might nonetheless be heard from the celebration venue, although police had been stopping any newcomers from becoming a member of the rave, in line with an AFP photographer.”Police controls are happening across the web site. Verbal warnings are being given to everybody leaving,” the police mentioned on social media.Talking in a while BFM TV, inside ministry spokeswoman Camille Chaize mentioned there had been “nice hostility, nice violence” towards the forces of regulation and order, with out indicating when the police would have the option enter the rave web site.Such mass gatherings are strictly prohibited throughout France to forestall the unfold of Covid-19, and a nationwide 8:00 pm curfew — which was not lifted for New 12 months — applies throughout the nation.Studies mentioned that the rave celebration happened in an empty warehouse belonging to a storage firm.Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the unlawful organisation of a musical gathering and premeditated violence towards individuals in authority.Autos registered from throughout France had been nonetheless parked on the web site Friday.’Little social distancing’Contributors interviewed by AFP mentioned that the revellers had included partygoers from international nations, together with Spain and Britain.One participant, who gave his identify as Jo from the Alsace area of jap France and refused to be recognized additional, mentioned that they had all met at a chosen spot Thursday night within the car parking zone of a purchasing centre.Then, the convoy headed for Lieuron, the place the police tried to forestall them from passing, he mentioned.He acknowledged that “only a few had revered social distancing” on the occasion, which was supposed solely to finish in a while Saturday.French authorities have been nervous about mass rave events all through the pandemic, however New 12 months’s evening was a specific concern.Within the southern metropolis of Marseille, safety forces halted an unlawful celebration grouping some 300 individuals, police mentioned. Greater than 150 individuals had been warned, and the three suspected organisers have been arrested.Inside Minister Gerald Darmanin mentioned that 132,000 police had been deployed throughout France for the New 12 months celebrations to make sure safety and that the curfew was revered.Darmanin mentioned on Twitter on Friday that he was working with native officers within the night “on re-establishing a traditional scenario” whereas holding individuals secure.(AFP)
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