A reveler had his hand blown off as many police attempted to interrupt up an illegal rave in western France, officials said. About 1,500 people were at the rave at a racing track near the town of Redon. There were “very violent clashes” lasting seven hours after police intervened, the local prefect said. Five law enforcement officials were injured. Authorities and partygoers blamed one another for the violence. The event had been organized on social media and native authorities had banned it from going ahead. Perfect Emmanuel Berthier said people attending the rave “had an objective, to confront the forces of order” and accused them of throwing petrol bombs, large metal balls of the sort employed in the French game of boules and breezeblocks at officers. Event organizers said the police had chosen to fireside tear gas instead of negotiating with them. “Tear gas and stun grenades rained on the group who only wanted to party,” one organizer told the AFP press agency. A 22-year-old man lost his hand within the violence, prosecutors in Rennes said. An investigation was under thanks to determining the explanation for his injury. There were five arrests, police said. The rave was held in memory of Steve Maia Caniço, a 24-year-old man who drowned within the Loire River in Nantes in 2019 after police raided a concert during a music festival. His body was found quite a month later. Protesters in Nantes say the police intervention then was disproportionate. In January about 2,500 people attended a rave in Brittany beginning on New Year’s Eve and lasted 36 hours before police shut it down following clashes.
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