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Hundreds Charged With COVID Violations After French New Year's Rave

Agence France-Presse

   LIEURON, FRANCE - More than 1,200 revelers were booked for breaking
   coronavirus restrictions as an illegal rave in northwestern France
   ended Saturday after more than two days of partying that saw clashes
   with police.

   Police had failed to stop the underground event, which drew around
   2,500 people from Thursday night to two empty warehouses in Lieuron,
   south of the city of Rennes in Brittany.

   But the prosecutor's office said police had detained two people,
   neither of whom had any previous convictions, as part of efforts to
   identify the organizers.

   They were also searching one address and had so far turned up a sum of
   money that appeared to be part of the proceeds from the event, and
   drugs, prosecutor Philippe Astruc said.

   Police seized the material and booked more than 1,200 for a variety of
   offenses, he added.

   Such mass gatherings are banned across France to prevent the spread of
   COVID-19, and a nationwide 8 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew has been in force
   across the country.

   Illegal nightclubs

   Techno music blared from the warehouses, which had been transformed
   into illegal nightclubs for partygoers who flocked to the site from
   across France and even from abroad.

   The local prefecture said Saturday that the music had been switched off
   and sound systems dismantled after two nights, and the first revelers
   began leaving the site before dawn.

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