A rave party degenerated south of Rennes during the night from Saturday to Sunday. Eight participants were slightly injured and hospitalized during “clashes” with “residents”particularly travelers living next door, we learned from the firefighters and the prefecture.
3000 people
Arriving Friday evening, around 3,000 people took part in a rave party in an abandoned warehouse in Brie (Ille-et-Vilaine), located on the edge of the Rennes-Angers dual carriageway, despite a prefectural ban, indicates the prefecture in a press release.
“During the night, clashes broke out between ravers and local residents, requiring a strong mobilization of state services,” explains the press release. “Eight people had to be evacuated to hospital for minor injuries”.
According to fire captain Julien Valdenaire, commander of rescue operations, the first altercations between partygoers and travelers living next to the hangar broke out in the early evening and “the gendarmes intervened to prevent this from causing numerous victims.”
Fourteen people were slightly injured according to him, mainly wounds and a broken ankle.
120 firefighters and 80 police
Up to 120 firefighters and around 80 gendarmes were mobilized overnight. An advanced medical post was set up near the scene to care for the injured. Early Sunday morning, calm had returned, according to an AFP journalist on site.
The organizers stopped the music around 1 a.m., putting an end to the rave. Thomas, 22, was sleeping in his tent set up in the parking lot in front of the hangar when he was woken up in the middle of the night. “They stoned us to make us leave the hangar, there was a projectile, like a Molotov cocktail, which went over my head”he told AFP.
The rave organizers then intervened on the microphone to stop the music, explains Malou, 22 years old. “They blocked the hangar to confine us inside. Those who were outside were stoned.” According to Pierre, 25 years old, “the gypsies had warned the organizers in advance, telling them: 'if you are still there on Saturday evening, we will destroy everything'”.
“We found a syringe”
According to a man identifying himself as a member of the Travelers and living near the hangar, “ten” people from his community intervened in the night “to protect our children”. “We found a syringe in our garden, it’s not just because of the music”he explained to AFP on condition of anonymity.
The prefect of Ille-et-Vilaine, Amaury de Saint-Quentin, “condemned” the organizers of this rave party. “Through their casualness and irresponsibility, the organizers endangered the participants, local residents, motorists and the security and emergency forces, both on the site and on the traffic routes”deplores the prefect.
