Hundreds of revellers were booked for breaking coronavirus restrictions as an illegal rave in northwestern France ended after more than two days of partying that saw clashes with police.
Police had failed to stop the underground event, which drew around 2500 people from Thursday night in two disused warehouses in Lieuron, south of the city of Rennes in Brittany.
Such mass gatherings are banned across France to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and a nationwide 8pm curfew – which was not lifted for New Year – has been in force across the country.
Techno music blared out during the night from the warehouses, which had been transformed into illegal nightclubs for partygoers who had flocked to the site from across France and even from abroad.
The local government said Saturday the music had been switched off and sound systems dismantled after two nights, and the first revellers began leaving the site before dawn.
By 10.15am it was under the control of police, the local government said.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in a tweet that police had booked more than 1200 people and seized a truck, sound equipment and generators from the site of the “illegal rave party.”
The large police presence at the site had led to the break-up of the event “without violence”, he added.
The regional government representative, Emmanuel Berthier, said 800 people had been booked specifically for coronavirus-related offences such as failing to respect the curfew restrictions or wear masks, or for participating in an illegal assembly.
Police fined several hundred others for use of narcotics, he told reporters.
Police on access roads were checking all those leaving the site, on foot or in vehicles, using torches to check their eyes for signs of drugs use, an AFP photographer said.
Police reinforcements continued to arrive and close off the site in a calm atmosphere Saturday morning, the photographer said.
“It’s been a year since we could do anything,” said 24-year-old partygoer Antoine.
The salesman was part of a group of five from Brittany that attended the rave.
“We knew what we were risking… we had to party, for a year everything has been stuck,” said one of the group, a 20-year-old waitress.
The French government, facing the threat of a new wave of COVID-19 infections, announced on Friday it was extending its overnight curfew by two hours in 15 regions to help combat the virus, starting it at 6pm instead of 8pm.
The country recorded around 20,000 new cases and 133 deaths on Friday, bringing the total number of fatalities to almost 64,800.
– AFP
