More than 20,000 revelers gathered for an illegal rave at a military facility in central France despite the risk of unexploded ordnance nearby.
The event, organized as “Bourges Technival” on social media, is being held at a military firing range deemed “extremely dangerous” by authorities.
The vast grounds, which have been used for testing artillery, missiles and artillery shells, began drawing partygoers from across Europe on Thursday.
The head of the local prefecture, Philippe Le Moyne Surssure, said the crowd of more than 2,000 cars at the event site was deemed illegal early Friday.
Organizers did not seek permission for the event, so 600 police officers were called out on Friday, issuing dozens of fines, mainly for drug possession and driving offences. According to the prefecture, at least 12 people received minor injuries from emergency services.
Local authorities advised residents to avoid traveling to the site, especially the wooded area with unexploded ordnance remains, which is considered a “high-risk” area.
In a fake prefectural order spread on social media, organizers said the event was being held to protest a new law proposed by French authorities to “strengthen the criminalization of rave parties.”
The French movement to promote illegal raves, known as “free parties,” dates back to 1993, when thousands of ravers gathered for a Technival in the Paris suburb of Fontainebleau. Since then, illegal raves, imitating the rave culture popularized in Britain since the late 1980s, have been held in abandoned fields and spaces across the United States.
