While the party is in full swing, those who did not arrive until the early hours of the morning, this Saturday, are chomping at the bit. Impossible to pass. The surroundings of the site of the free party which has been taking place since Friday evening in Redon (in Ille-et-Vilaine) are completely blocked by the police. Some, like Clémence and her two friends, have nevertheless managed to cunning by bypassing the blockages. They meet on the road a man lying down, buttocks in the air, in a daze. Embarrassed smile. At the end of the path, a vast expanse of fields. The rain gave way to the sun, the thick clouds of tear gas to the deafening boom boom of the six walls of sound, on top of which a skull flag flies in the wind.
Coming from Bordeaux, Paris, Béziers, Geneva, they are at least 1,500 celebrating, and many of them feel they have paid dearly to taste this freedom, even as health restrictions are easing.
“That night was war.
We have never seen that, such a degree of violence, ”explains Flo, 22, who has been participating in free parties for seven years.
🔴 #Redon Operation in progress following an attempt to install a #Teknival.
➡️ Violent individuals refuse to leave the premises of this prohibited gathering.
➡️ More than 400 #gendarmes hired to put an end to the unrest. @ Bretagnegouv @ Gendarmerie_35 pic.twitter.com/aX9l7QZ5CQ
- National Gendarmerie (@Gendarmerie) June 19, 2021
Tear gas cartridges, burnt wood still smoking, concrete blocks and slates on the roads… Teufeurs and police forces faced each other for long hours during the night from Friday to Saturday. Orange sweatshirt and piercings on his face, Joris, 20, shows his bloody calf. “I got a flash ball five minutes after arriving,” he explains. A 22-year-old boy from Rennes was severely injured in his hand and had to be operated on. “We've been locked up in our house for a year and a half. Work, sleep… We want to live our youth ”, exclaims Joris. “It's completely disproportionate. All this for people who want to dance, ”lament Quentin and Nico, actor and physiotherapist. Here, we do not understand why the police continued to "gas" when everyone had managed to return.
VIDEO.
Rave party in Redon: seven injured after a night of clashes
Five men taken into custody
General Pierre Sauvegrain, commander of the gendarmerie in the Brittany region, explains that he only "enforced the law". Anticipating the holding of the rally, the prefecture of Ille-et-Vilaine had indeed issued a prohibition order. Of the 350 gendarmes mobilized, 5 were injured during the clashes. "One of them took a pétanque ball in the head", underlines General Sauvegrain. Three judicial inquiries are underway. The first for involuntary injuries concerning the young Rennais who would have had his hand torn off, without knowing for the moment under what conditions. The other two for organizing a free party and violence committed against gendarmes. Five men were taken into custody.
The organizers had voluntarily chosen to install their sound walls in the district of Rennes, pointing the finger at the prosecutor in charge of the files of the New Year's rave, which had taken place just 25 km away, in Lieuron. Magistrate also in charge of the Steve Maia Caniço case, who died in Nantes during the music festival in 2019, after falling into the water during the police intervention. Last Thursday, the prosecution announced that the investigating magistrate would notably convene in July the mayor of Nantes, his deputy for security, the prefect of Loire-Atlantique, the departmental director of public security and the divisional commissioner in charge of device at the time. Summons that may lead to indictment or placement under the status of assisted witness.
🔴 #Redon The evacuation of #Teknival continues.
Participants are encouraged to evacuate the area calmly.
➡️ Sound walls and generators seized by the #gendarmes @bretagnegouv @ Gendarmerie_35 pic.twitter.com/7UDDVFFVIq
- National Gendarmerie (@Gendarmerie) June 19, 2021
The organizers of the free party denounce the "policy of stigmatization and repression of the party and the youth".
Just like the party-goers present who regret that this culture has been caricatured for thirty years.
“It is very frowned upon because there are drugs circulating, but not all of us take them.
We are considered filthy, ”observes Bérangère, 21 years old.
The revelers were evacuated by the police around 5 p.m.
