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Across the continent, crowds flock to opportunities on social media and messaging apps, despite dangers and violent reactions.
By Alex Marshall, Thomas Rogers and Constant Méheut
Europe’s nightclubs are closed. But that doesn’t mean the continent’s revelers stay home.
While locks opposing coronaviruses are facilitated, illegal raves are gaining popularity. Outdoor occasions for a lot, in some cases thousands, organized through social media and messaging apps, are in full swing every weekend, causing headaches for law enforcement and lawmakers, and causing public debate and panic in the media.
Tom Wingfield, a full professor at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said in an email that there were no medical studies on coronavirus and parties, but that the lack of social estrangement probably posed dangers of transmission. Add alcohol or drugs, and the dangers can be exacerbated, he said.
Some countries have tried to get the clubs back. In Switzerland, the maximum regions allow cinemas to reopen in June, provided that the main points of contact of the participants are maintained. (After many revelers gave false information, identity checks are mandatory in some areas.) Clubs in Barcelona, Spain, reopened at the end of June, but closed a few weeks later when the virus spread throughout the city.
In most countries, the concept of crowded dance floors is too complicated right now. Many nightclub operators are concerned that they are the last corporations allowed to reopen.
Until then, thousands of people have been partying in secret, despite the dangers and repercussions. Last weekend, Times Newshounds attended 3 times in Berlin, London and near Paris. Here’s what we saw.
It was Saturday and a rave was just beginning in a box in the northeastern suburbs of Berlin. A D.J. the shorts were near turntables connected to a generator, playing a warm combination of space and techno music. Nearby a tent that promoted beer had been set up and multicolored luminaires had been placed in the trees.
The crowd of two hundred other people grew throughout the minute. Despite the sign indicating the revelers at a distance of at least 1.5 meters, or about five feet, the mastery of the dance was crowded and no one wore a mask.
With the closure of Berlin nightclubs attached to a pandemic that spreads to summer, illicit parties like this have given the impression of filling the void. Most are free to attend and take positions in remote positions to escape police control; many are advertised via Telegram, an encrypted messaging app. To get to Saturday’s party, participants had to stick to a map sent to the app and walk 15 minutes through an empty commercial domain from the nearest exercise stop.
Although the number of new coronavirus infections remains low in Germany, they have begun to increase in recent weeks, and parties like this have become a talking point in a broader debate about whether other young people threaten the country’s much-praised success. The patience of the parties has infuriated some politicians and public fitness officials, and has confused the attempts of the city’s club scene leaders to seek officially sanctioned events.
Some Saturday revelers argued that raves were an essential way to vent after an era of isolation, noting that the occasions posed less risk. Berlin coronavirus regulations allow meetings in parks that can accommodate up to 1,000 people, but only if social distance measures are maintained and no alcohol is sold.
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