France’s Interior Minister, Laurent Nuñez, travelled near to his hometown this Sunday where a huge free party has been taking place since Friday on a French army firing range, so far without any major incident.
On site, the minister flew over the area, which has brought together between 17,000 and 40,000 people from all over Europe, in a national gendarmerie helicopter, and visited a medical post set up on the edge of the camp.
The choice of location is no accident: in a statement mimicking a prefectural order published on Saturday, the organisers point out that the minister comes from Bourges, the département’s capital. They say they want to occupy the training ground symbolically in order to “celebrate joy and mutual aid”, in an anti-militarist message protesting against the state’s repressive policy towards ravers.
The government’s response is unequivocal: no concessions. Laurent Nuñez told reporters that these demands will only “strengthen the government’s determination to crack down more harshly on this kind of wild event, which our fellow citizens do not understand”.
He condemned the “carelessness” of participants who “invade” this site “with no regard for the life that goes on there, or for the nuisance it causes”.
Laurent Nuñez also announced that the government will continue to push its “Ripost” bill, approved by the cabinet at the end of March, which increases penalties for undeclared free parties.
“From now on, organising a rave party will be a criminal offence punishable by two years in prison and a 30,000-euro fine”, he hammered home, adding that an offence of taking part in such events would also be created.
As the first revellers were leaving the site on Sunday afternoon, the minister warned that all those who “leave the teknival will be fined on two counts” – for trespassing on military land or for failing to comply with the prefect’s order.
The authorities, initially caught off guard, quickly deployed a major security operation. More than 600 gendarmes remain deployed around the teknival.
According to a provisional report released by the minister, 33 people have been treated by emergency services, 12 of whom were taken to hospital, “in part for drug use”.
From the outset, the security forces had warned of “pyrotechnic” risks linked to the possible presence of unexploded munitions on this firing range, which was still recently being used for tests of the Caesar artillery system.
The prefecture reported on Saturday that a first shell had been found near a local road on the edge of the site. A second piece of ordnance, discovered since, is currently “being dealt with”, Laurent Nuñez said.