Why France bludgeons rave parties
How the government in France reacts to rave parties. Enrico Martial's article
In France, rave parties have existed for twenty years, but recently the counteraction has become clearer, also due to the pandemic, and not without consequences. Even in 2015, at a rave party near Toulouse, the damage was mostly found. Among the six thousand participants there were three deaths: an 18-year-old from cardiac arrest, a 35-year-old homeless and a Spaniard on the way home. The land occupied, in Talairan, near Narbonne, 30 km from the sea and 15 from the highway, was publicly owned, and had already been the subject of rallies in the previous months.
Instead, last New Year's Eve, in Lieuron, a small town in Brittany, there was a clash. A rave was organized in three large abandoned hangars: the place had to be kept secret until the end and the communication routes had to complicate the controls.
The police, who have been listening to the chats and posts, have already intervened during the installation and start of the mega-party. Among tear gas, throwing stones and bottles, a gendarmerie truck was set on fire, three other cars damaged, and there were light injuries among the police. A step back was necessary, masks and gels were distributed and new accesses were prevented by waiting in the morning, when the music stopped at 5. The police took over control of the places at 10 and gave 1600 fines. largely linked to Covid, but also to drugs and previous clashes. A few days later, on January 4, a 22-year-old was arrested who had been at the mixer and whose phone had sent 1000 invitations to the rave.
The situation has been similar in recent weeks. Police intervened to stop or contain one
a dozen rave-parties were held from 31 July to 1 August 2021 to remember Steve Maia Caniço, a 24-year-old drowned in the Loire in which he had fallen, along with others, during a police charge on the occasion of a techno music party of Nantes in June 2020. There were 750 people in Laval, 500 north of Dijon, 1500 in Gironde, 200 in Brittany, 1000 in Honfleur in Normandy, 3000 in the Grenoble area. In Redon, stop of the TGV Atlantique, not far from Rennes, on June 19, 2021, there were clashes at a rave dedicated to Steve Maia Caniço, with 1500 people. One boy lost his hand and again there were others lightly injured. In the morning the music seemed to resume but the sound material was then partly destroyed by the gendarmes.
The muscular approach of the police is consistent with the style of Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who defined the boys who go to rave parties as “criminals”. The “teufeurs”, so called with the neologisms that invert the syllables (festa = fête = teufe), however, do not have all public opinion to the contrary. Thus, in addition to the most striking cases, the prefectures rather try to minimize the damage, without going to the clash. It is true that some promoters are identified, such as the "Sound Système PTP Family" and the "Sound Système Partoutatek Demembre Loup'Rdingue", but mostly raves have an informal organization, in which everyone contributes his part, amplifiers, catering services or other, even illegal.
Thus, the adoption by the prefects of prohibitions on the transport of sound material or generators in specific areas and the prohibition of installation of material now gives the police the ability to produce fines (from 350 to 3750 euros, for example) and to seize material, when intercepted. The aim is to increase costs and problems for the owners of the materials, even after the raves have ended. In greater difficulty in France, organizations therefore set out to search for territories less prepared and equipped in management and responses, as in Italy or in other countries of the Union.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/francia-rave-party-cosa-fa/ on Fri, 20 Aug 2021 13:06:31 +0000.