The last participants in a giant rave party organized illegally this weekend in the south of France, in the heart of the Cévennes national park, have left the scene, local authorities said on Wednesday.
• Read also: COVID-19: thousands of people participate in a rave in France
This wild rave party, which brought together several thousand people on a sheep grazing site, shocked the population of this rural region. The Lozère department is one of the areas in France least affected by the new coronavirus since the start of the epidemic.
“All the vehicles left the site”, announced on social networks the prefect of Lozère, Valérie Hatsch, specifying that “the evacuation went smoothly”.
The prefect had shortly before given “the order to evacuate the illegally occupied site” by up to 10,000 revelers since Saturday in Hures-la-Parade, on the limestone plateau of the Causse Méjean (south). In a statement, the prefecture had indicated Wednesday morning that there remained “about 500” participants.
She explained as early as Sunday that she had not carried out the forced evacuation of the site for security reasons, but indicated that the police had increased checks and verbalizations.
Some participants having consumed alcohol and narcotics, the prefecture had in fact stressed that it had to take into account the presence of many tourists staying in the surrounding places and also traveling on narrow roads.
In terms of health, while the participants in this gathering did not observe any barrier gestures against the novel coronavirus pandemic, in a department so far relatively spared, two COVID-19 screening centers have been installed at the main exits of the site by firefighters and the Red Cross.
Party-goers were reminded of the need to be tested within seven days in order to contain possible contamination, the statement said.
The medical post reported a total of seven hospitalizations. A person evacuated in emergency on Monday is still in intensive care, according to the prefecture.
The nature, extent and duration of this illegal gathering in an environmental zone with a fragile and protected ecosystem, moreover in times of pandemic, have aroused the indignation of certain inhabitants of Lozère.
Demonstrations of more than 5,000 people are still prohibited in France, due to the epidemic.
