A huge and illegal party where 300 young people were gathered in hiding on an old railway line was held in Paris on Saturday, November 21, according to an account made by AFP.
The facts took place in the 13th arrondissement, overnight.
Read also: In Paris, the night BAC tracks illegal evenings
The address was communicated by email at the last moment and the instructions were strict: arrive discreetly, alone or in very small groups, between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., with your reserved ticket.
The 300 sesames for this evening called “
I want to break free
” sold for 15 euros via an internet platform.
The places left in a few hours.
The entrance ticket was 15 euros.
DAPHNE ROUSSEAU / AFP
After a portal and a first door, you had to go for a long time along the rails, by the only light of your cell phone, to arrive on a spectacular scene.
A concrete cathedral, 20 meters high, covered with light garlands, neon lights, psychedelic designs projected on the ceiling and which vibrated to the sound of powerful speakers.
There was also a bar area, a dancefloor, a stage for DJs.
Under the techno music that tore through the dense air of the tunnel, hundreds of people in a trance stomped on the dusty ground or chatted, drank or flirted in the corners.
"
We decided to enter into resistance and to launch this call to hide together to celebrate because young people no longer have any space to exist together, they live in a terrible lack, we try to continue to bring them that. , despite the risks,
”the 27-year-old organizer Alexandre (first name changed) told AFP.
“
We have this know-how now.
You can, in less than two hours, settle anywhere and
organize
a very discreet evening like this one,
”justified the organizer, founder of the young collective specializing in underground evenings and“
urbex
”.
»(Exploration of industrial wastelands and abandoned places).
Motley public
His collective works via a closed Facebook group, which works by co-option.
Far from the circles of "
free parties
", followers of squats and libertarian ideologies, or LGBT party circles, this community, the only one to maintain parties of this magnitude in full confinement, brings together a motley Parisian audience.
That Saturday night, there were as many people in their forties who looked tidy as they were students, “
fashionistas
”, left-wing or LGBT activists and some young people from the suburbs.
“
Personally, I'm on a permanent contract, it's my first job and I work a lot, I really need to decompress.
With confinement, there is an imbalance in my life, I haven't been out of my apartment for a month, this party is a matter of mental health for me,
”said Ivan, 23, developer, who came with it. his American girlfriend.
"
There I feel pure euphoria, it's the only moment that allows you to forget everything, to stop living over the numbers of deaths and people entering intensive care
".
While the state of health emergency prohibits any public gathering, all the more for commercial purposes, the organizers incur a fine of 15,000 euros and one year in prison, for "
endangering the lives of others
".
"
Generally the police intervene on the clandestine parties when it is requested by the neighbors, in particular for fuss,
" explained a police source.
But there, far from everything, "
there was no intervention at this address
".