Toulouse: two organizers of an underground nightclub indicted

They welcomed a hundred revelers in the midst of the epidemic.

Two people suspected of having transformed a cottage near Toulouse into an underground nightclub were indicted on Tuesday, said the prosecution which requested their placement in pre-trial detention.

"I decided to open a judicial investigation against the two people implicated (...) who agreed at least on the materiality of the facts which are attributed to them", said the prosecutor Dominique Alzéari in a press release.

The two organizers were thus indicted for "exposure of others to an immediate risk of death or injury, serious willful damage to the property of others, concealed work aggravated by concealment of activity and employees and concealment of theft" , detailed the prosecutor.

20 euros for the parking, 30 for the entrance

The party took place overnight from Saturday to Sunday, in the town of Burgaud, north-west of Toulouse, despite the restrictive measures imposed by the Covid-19 epidemic.

Many participants were not wearing masks when the gendarmes arrived, around 3.30am, and came from Occitania but also from the Paris region.

They were fined 135 euros.

The alleged organizers had assured that they were "influencers who came to shoot," according to the owner of the cottage, which was heard by the gendarmes.

After launching the invitation at the last moment on the Snapchat application, the organizers had charged 20 euros for the parking lot and 30 euros for entry into the gîte, an old restored farmhouse that can accommodate up to 50 people.

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The prosecution requested that the two organizers be placed in pre-trial detention, taking into account "the objective gravity of the facts knowingly committed in violation of the most essential rules for the preservation of public health and safety in the current health context," by exposing a very large number of people to immediate risk for profit and the concern to avoid any risk of repetition ”.

The decision must be taken in the evening by the liberty and detention judge.