Montpellier (AFP)

Some 2,500 people were still Tuesday morning on the site of a giant "rave party" which brought together up to 10,000 revelers in the Cévennes massif last weekend, said the prefecture of Lozère which speaks of an "acceleration departures ".

"The presence of young children, the precarious sanitary conditions linked to the consumption of alcohol and narcotics, and the rapid decrease in the number of participants linked to the checks carried out by the police, fully justify At this stage the decision of the State services not to proceed with the forced evacuation of the site "- fields located in the town of Hures-la-Parade, on a limestone plateau, in the heart of the Cévennes national park, adds the prefecture in a press release.

The prefecture denounced the actions of 13 farmers of the Rural Coordination of Lozère, a "minority union", who blocked several roads on Monday demanding the forced evacuation of revelers.

These farmers "are not affected by the occupation of the site and are not mandated by the owner of the premises or by the Chamber of Agriculture, who completely dissociate themselves from their action", insists the prefecture. The farmer who owns the pastures where the "ravers" are installed told AFP that he did not support the protest actions of the Rural Coordination.

The farmers of the Coordination "threatened to block the A75 motorway if a forced evacuation of the + teknival + site ... was not immediately initiated," recalls the prefecture. Prevented from carrying out this action, they then blocked or slowed down the traffic on several roads before "gathering in the center" of Mende, "where they made a noise from 11:30 pm", regretted the prefecture.

"It is regrettable that the action of the farmers of the Rural Coordination has diverted part of the police from the priority mission assigned to them on the site of the teknival," she added.

This gathering undermined measures to fight the new coronavirus while the department of Lozère, the least populated in France, has been the most spared since the start of the pandemic.

© 2020 AFP