Police do not intervene: Thousands of ravers end illegal party

Saturday, January 02, 2021

Police do not intervene
Thousands of ravers end illegal party

An attempt by the police to break up a huge, illegal party in Brittany initially fails due to the violent resistance of the participants. A police vehicle goes up in flames. Only when the music stops do the guests leave the premises. The organizers are so far unknown.

An illegal New Year’s Eve party with around 2500 participants in western France is now breaking up. The music had been switched off and numerous celebrants had meanwhile left the premises, it was said from the prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany. There was “no police intervention”.

The first partiers left the party in Lieuron south of Rennes in the early morning, according to the prefecture. An association that campaigns for risk prevention at raves estimated the number of partygoers remaining in the morning at “a few hundred”.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin wrote on Twitter that the rave party had “ended nonviolently” thanks to the numerous police officers on site and the intensive controls. The police will check all participants when they leave the site and issue paid warnings. Who organized the party is still unknown. Those responsible face high fines or even imprisonment. According to eyewitness reports, the organizers or their helpers were able to dismantle the music system in the morning and transport it on the truck without being bothered by the police.

The professionally organized New Year’s Eve party in an empty warehouse in Lieuron got completely out of hand on Thursday. Despite Corona requirements and curfew, ravers from different regions of France and abroad celebrated in the small town in Brittany. When the police tried to end the party, they were violently attacked and displaced.

According to the police, one of the officers’ vehicles was set on fire and three others were damaged during the riots. In addition, the police were thrown with bottles and stones. The public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into the rioting.