Health

Police shut down illegal raves; Dutch, Germans face vaccine issues

Madrid Desk, Jan 2 (efe-epa).- Police in France and Spain have shut down large illegal New Year’s parties that lasted for days and which flouted regulations in place to fight coronavirus, while authorities in the Netherlands and Germany are facing mounting pressure over delays and issues related to the rollout of their Covid-19 vaccine programs.

FRANCE

An illegal party in Brittany in western France attended by around 2,500 people that started on New Year’s Eve ended on Saturday morning after police arrived to shut it down.

Authorities indicated that the rave that began on Thursday night to Friday in a warehouse in Lieuron, about 45 kilometers from Rennes, ended without law enforcement having to intervene directly, after the music stopped and sound equipment was dismantled.

The French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, said on his Twitter account that more than 1,200 fines have been imposed and criminal proceedings would be opened against the organizers.

He also said that a truck, sound equipment and generators have been requisitioned.

The Prefecture had warned since Friday night on its Twitter account that all participants would be systematically fined.

The Prefect of Brittany (Government delegate), Emmanuel Bertier, specified at mid-morning that 800 of the infractions imposed were for failure to comply with the regulations to prevent Covid, but there were also “several hundred fines” for drug use.

An investigation has been opened into the failure to comply with health rules as well as reports that officers were assaulted while trying to break up the party.

SPAIN

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