In municipalities such as Sarral (Tarragona), with 1,544 inhabitants, and Torà (Lleida), with 1,244, the festivities last Friday lasted several days.
The two towns were invaded by individuals aboard vans and motorhomes that were installed in the middle of fields, deployed loudspeakers and by dint of decibels they danced for days in what is known as a rave: an illegal outdoor party where electronic music is played which is accompanied by dances and peppered, and a lot, with drugs.
Catalonia has been a land of raves for decades.
The last most famous was the one that was held in January 2021 —in the middle of the pandemic— in Llinars del Vallès (Barcelona).
All raves are illegal — if they have permits it is no longer a rave — but, in addition, the one in Llinars was held in the midst of a health emergency and with dozens of restrictions.
It brought together 300 people and the Mossos did not evict it until after 40 hours.
Joaquim Boadas is the general secretary of the Fecasarm nightlife association.
Boadas believes that more raves are held in Catalonia than in the rest of Spain because it is on the border with France.
"Outside of Catalonia there is more bottle culture where you drink without dancing as an activity prior to the disco" says the secretary of Fecasarm.
“In Europe there is more of a rave culture—drink and music—it's an alternative to disco.
During the pandemic, since people couldn't go to the disco, they organized more parties of this type but, in general, it is not an audience that goes to the disco, but they are defenders of the underground and alternative leisure ”, he concludes. .
Boadas believes that the celebration of these festivities damages the image of his sector, giving an idea of "clandestinity and insecurity."
The keys provided by Boadas match those of the rave attendees.
EL PAÍS has contacted several of them.
Everyone wants to preserve their identity.
They report that they find out about these parties when there are hours left before their celebration and thanks to certain groups on social networks.
One of the 300 attendees at the Llinars del Vallès rave in 2021 —among many other illegal parties— assures that the image given to raves is “criminal” on purpose.
“After a rave there is a lot of preparation.
We are not terrorists, we do not want to bother anyone.
We rave because it goes directly against the world that we have been led to believe is mandatory.
At our parties there are no doormen, there are no fights… they are safe parties where there is a lot of respect”, says this young woman.
“No one is judged.
We go because we like music,
we want to dance…”
She doesn't want to talk about the presence of drugs despite admitting that there are.
“We all know that those who put together the rave have a lot of work behind them and that's why we contribute what we can to a pot that is given to the organizers,” she reports.
Many of these organizers cross half of Europe towards Catalonia to set up these festivities.
For this reason Italian, French, Belgian license plates... are repeated in the improvised parking lots of raves.
EL PAÍS has asked the Mossos d'Esquadra for statistics on interventions in this type of party.
A spokesperson assures that this type of data does not exist since these incidents are entered in headings as generic as "neighbor disturbances".
They claim that it is not a serious problem.
"We go whenever we are required to, but many times, as they are administrative infractions, we can only see if the vehicles have passed the ITV or do breathalyzers," they admit.
Albert Palacio is spokesman for the Mossos USPAC union.
“In Barcelona there has always been a lot of squatting and anarchist movement and there is also a lot of permissiveness that is why they come here.
When a rave is detected, dozens of agents are assigned to those places.
While the police are there, other places are neglected, ”he denounces.
The Sarral rave started on Friday and ended last Tuesday.
It is the first time that the residents remember an illegal party in the municipality.
The mayoress, Victoria Cañís (ERC), remembers the restlessness of last Friday: “At the rave there were about 1,000 people in vans that, since they were using GPS, got them into the middle of the town.
As soon as I saw them I called the Mossos”.
The abnormality of the situation caused dozens of neighbors to come to the party over the weekend.
"Let's hope it doesn't happen again.
It seems that they have cleaned it up but we have to check if they have destroyed some of the roads ”, she warns.
Torà's rave lasted one day less than Sarral's.
For the mayor of this Lleida municipality, Magí Coscollola (ERC), the illegal party was not new.
“In September we fixed the access road to the Ollers farmhouse, which is uninhabited.
On November 26 and 27, 300 people held a rave.
On December 17 and 18 the second and this February 18 and 19 the third.
We are going to close the road because this cannot continue like this, ”he denounces.
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