Peace returns to French village: illegal rave with 30,000 partygoers ends after five days | Abroad

In Villegongis, a small village with barely 110 inhabitants, peace finally returned on Monday evening. In recent days, 30,000 partygoers gathered for Teknival, a techno festival that has been around for more than thirty years. The first ravers arrived on Thursday and occupied a meadow, despite a ban from the local prefecture. The owner of the meadow soon realized that he could not send the techno enthusiasts away because they were simply “too many”.

At least 119 people were injured in the festivities, including ten seriously injured. According to the authorities, many people had taken too many drugs, were dehydrated or had too low a sugar level. Of the seriously injured, one person was run over when he fell asleep in tall grass. Two others became unwell and at least one partygoer was bitten by a viper. Nothing is known about the other seriously injured.

The police handed out at least 600 fines for drug possession and driving under the influence in recent days.

A total of more than 400 police officers, 76 emergency workers and about thirty firefighters were called for the rave. The price tag of the party is not yet known, but the first estimates do not bode well. “If we only look at the performance of the fire brigade, we arrive at a bill of about 35,000 euros,” says Marc Fleuret, the chairman of the province of Indre.

The previous edition of Teknival cost no less than one million euros. Since the organizers could never be identified, the state had to pay for everything. “The organizers are completely irresponsible. They will have to answer for themselves in court and we have to make them pay,” says Fleuret.

The incident is reminiscent of the illegal techno party that took place in our country at the beginning of this month, on a military domain in Brustem near Sint-Truiden. Although fewer people came to Teknival than to Teknival, the Belgian authorities also decided not to evacuate the site.