A free party organized by local collectives Teknoseed, Système Nerveux, 510 BpM Sound System, and Vikings in France’s Lailly-en-Val commune devolved into chaos when authorities arrived to disperse it on Saturday. Video recorded during the incident shows military police officers in riot gear shoving attendees and deploying tear gas into the crowd.
France Bleu reports that the hunting company who own the land did not authorize the event. Authorities counted over 500 revelers and 100 vehicles when they arrived onsite Saturday morning, at which time they negotiated with organizers to conclude the gathering. When some of the crews continued to promote the event on social media, law enforcement officers halted it by force. In the process, they seized sound equipment (including what appears to be Void Acoustics system) as well as generators and electric cables.
Footage of the military police’s use of force sparked outcry after circulating on social media the following day. In a video that has been shared on Facebook 4,600 times, authorities can be seen marching towards the festival stage and shoving attendees to the ground before forming a perimeter around the sound system. Revelers proceed to throw bottles at them, and they return fire with tear gas canisters.
In response to the backlash, Loiret officials have argued that the organizers’ noncompliance left them no choice. “We first asked the organizers to end the party but they refused,” Secretary General Thierry Démaret told La République du Centre. “We could not allow such an event to take place which had neither the agreement of the landowner nor the subject of a declaration to the prefecture and while a decree will prohibit gatherings of more than 30 people as part of a private party on Monday.”
The organizers tell a different story. In a social media statement, a member of Teknoseed alleged that the police had agreed to allow the event to go on until noon on Sunday – but then arrived in riot gear unexpectedly on Saturday.
Back and Forth
French officials’ response to this weekend’s free party comes at a time when lawmakers are finally clamping back down on gatherings – authorized or otherwise. In addition to illegal pop-up raves, licensed events like the Posession parties drew throngs of scarcely masked revelers with headliners like VTSS and Amelie Lens throughout July and August. Even as countries with lower COVID-19 case counts like Italy and Spain reintroduced nightlife bans, French authorities loosened social distancing guidelines.
As confirmed cases by day have continued to climb, French lawmakers have done an about face at last. In Paris and Marseille, hospitals have been forced to put regular operations on hold to make room for COVID-19 patients. After 14,000 new cases were confirmed throughout the country on Sunday alone, bars in Paris, Lyon and nine other cities will be required to stop serving alcohol at 10:00 PM in addition to the aforementioned capacity limit on private gatherings.
Traquenard told Selector that he hopes to learn more about why police dispersed this weekend’s free party following a hearing on Wednesday as the event is under judicial investigation.
