VRTDrone image of the party on Sunday
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 09:09
The illegal rave that started Friday evening in the Belgian city of Sint-Truiden has come to an end. The former military site in the Belgian province of Limburg was virtually empty this morning, Flemish media report.
Last night the last music installations were taken down, there were still about 1500 people on the site at the time. In the Belgian radio program De Morgen, governor Jos Lantmeeters says that there are still about a hundred partygoers left: “There are still about 80 to 90 vehicles, but they also belong to people who sleep it off”. They will not be removed from the site with a heavy hand.
‘On the trail of organizers’
Lantmeeters says on the radio that the authorities are now on the trail of the organizers behind the rave. The suspects are believed to be from abroad. According to the governor, severe penalties are imminent, including for entering military terrain and organizing a party in a nature reserve.
In the radio program, Lantmeeters also responded to the criticism of the actions of the authorities in recent days. According to him, a deliberately non-violent approach was chosen: “We tried to challenge as little as possible, but to put as much pressure as possible.”
Lantmeeters says he wanted to prevent ‘Brussels scenes’ such as in the corona pandemic. In May 2021, a large illegal party took place in the Belgian capital. In addition, the authorities intervened harshly against about 2000 partygoers, which got completely out of hand. “They tried to break up 2000 demonstrators with 600 police officers. This simply increased the suffering and there was a lot of physical damage. We wanted to avoid that.”
Fear of disturbances
About 10,000 people went to the illegal party in Sint-Truiden last weekend. Local residents complained about loud music and traffic nuisance, but because of the large turnout, the rave could not simply be stopped, according to the authorities.
Several partygoers were taken to hospital this weekend with symptoms of poisoning. The Flemish Minister of Justice suggested yesterday to cut off the power, but according to Lantmeeters that had not worked because the partygoers themselves had power sources with them.
He also feared disturbances, because the ravers used a lot of drugs and alcohol. “We found pamphlets calling for unity against the police if the music systems were turned off.” According to Lantmeeters, the restrained approach has worked: according to him, the partygoers initially planned to continue until tonight or tomorrow morning.
Neighbors complain about “shaking glass and banging”:
Belgian village goes crazy from days of rave: ‘Shaking glass and banging’
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