Very authoritarian, very brutal': three decades after the UK's anti-rave crackdown, why is France doing the same?

French authorities are stepping up pressure on unlicensed music gatherings, using tear gas, grenades and a new law aimed at crowd sizes over 250. The crackdown echoes the UK’s 1990s anti-rave campaign, including the 1992 spiral tribe crackdown after their Castlemorton Common free party drew more than 30,000 people for nearly a week. Spiral Tribe later helped spread hardtek/tribe sounds across France, where Teknival events reportedly grew from around 1,000 attendees in 1993 to up to 100,000 in the early 2000s. Amnesty France cited excessive force after CRS raids in Nantes (2019) and Rendon (2021), including injuries. Organisers could face two years’ imprisonment, vehicle and equipment confiscation, and up to €30,000 fines, while attendees could get six months and €7,500.