Serious clashes between young people and police officers who dispersed an underground party in France with hundreds of participants

Five police officers were injured and a young man lost a hand during a long night of “extreme” violence in a rural area of ​​Brittany (western France), when the gendarmes tried avoid an illegal party with hundreds of participants.

“There was extreme violence much of the night”, with the incidents lasting “over seven hours”, indicated this Saturday the prefect of the department of Ile-et-Vilaine, Emmanuel Berthier, in a press statement.

The party was organized despite the curfew effective from 11 p.m., which will be lifted this Sunday due to the drop in coronavirus cases in France.

“Since last night, there is no music”, but “the individuals who participate in this illegal rave are still present in the place”the prefecture told the press agency AFP.

On the call of social networks for the party, in the town of Redon, the authorities responded by dispatch of several squads of riot police to avoid concentration and confiscate sound equipment.

After several comings and goings in the city, some 1,500 young people tried to concentrate on a racetrack for their party, detailed the prefect.

Some of the summoned threw Molotov cocktails and firecrackers were fired at the officers, who retaliated with tear gas.

“In this context of extreme violence, a 22-year-old lost a hand”explained Berthier. Added that five policemen were injured, two of whom were evacuated to a hospital.

The authorities had issued a prohibition order, fearing that a rave party would bring together “several hundred participants”.

The event was organized as a tribute to a young man killed in 2019 when he fell into a river while fleeing police intervention at an illegal party in the city of Nantes.

Last April, several hundred young people gathered in the Buttes-Chaumont park, in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, to have fun defying the current rules of the coronavirus. The impromptu party, while it lasted on average on a Sunday with temperatures hovering around 20 degrees in the French capital, ended when the park officials had to whistle the assembly, shortly before the start of the curfew which was then in effect from 7 in the afternoon.

An open-air nightclub without masks or social distancing: thus, they reflected some images of young people who uploaded to their social networks to share the moment. Shortly after the outdoor party started, park rangers intervened calmly to end the illegal gathering. The participants dispersed just before the start of the park closure.

How are these meetings controlled?

The police intervene to try to disperse and evacuate the gathered people. Everywhere, on the banks of the Ourcq canal or on the banks of the Saint-Martin canal, places chosen by the young people of the French capital, the police must intervene, even if they recognize a certain powerlessness in the face of abuses.

Whenever a large group forms, it disperses, especially if they break the bubble rule or if they consume alcohol in public spaces are the orders of the police and gendarmes.

(With information from EFE, Europa Press and AFP)

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