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Some 2,500 revelers from France and abroad gathered in northwestern France to clandestinely celebrate the run-up to the New Year, in a huge party that the police could not prevent, even though the country is under threat of a new outbreak of covid-19.
In front of the event venue, late in the morning on Friday, registered vehicles from all over France were still parked, as many of the participants were still present, often without masks, while techno music was still loudly heard confirmed an AFP journalist.
A helicopter was flying over the area but no policemen were seen near the hangars where the party was taking place, in a place called Courbouton, in the town of Lieuron, south of the city of Rennes (west), in the department of Brittany.
Taking into account that France had decreed a “New Year’s Eve on the 31st” under a curfew, the gendarmes tried on Thursday night “to prevent this installation”. However, “they faced violent hostility from many partiers,” the prefecture of Ille-et-Vilaine department explained in a press release.
As a result of these clashes, “a gendarmerie vehicle was set on fire and three others were damaged, while the military threw bottles and stones at them, causing minor injuries,” the statement specified.
Isabelle, in her 60s, who lives in one of the houses near the hangars, which were “in disuse for a few months,” explains that the arrival of the revelers on Thursday night was “spectacular.”
In the midst of the covid-19 epidemic “we try to do the right thing and when we see what we have in front of us … where is the respect left?”
France is under threat of a new outbreak of the epidemic. On Thursday, the number of infections was around 20,000 in 24 hours, according to the French health office.
According to the prefecture, on Friday morning the number of “revelers” was estimated at 2,500, “coming from different departments and abroad”, and “a large gendarmerie device has been installed to protect the surroundings of the site and the routes of traffic ”, bearing in mind that the party is not over yet.
Rescue teams are in place to distribute gel and masks, “to limit the risk of spreading the virus within the event”, which was prohibited by decree of the Police prefecture.
This specifies that the prosecution opened an investigation for the “illicit organization of a festive gathering of a musical nature” and “intentional violence against people who hold public power.”
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