For a whole weekend, about 10,000 people danced at an illegal rave party in Sint-Truiden. The police’s choice to allow the party to continue in a controlled manner has provoked mixed reactions from local residents. “The ravers live on another planet, but they are very friendly.”
If you want to find your way to the old airfield on the military domain of Brustem on Monday morning, you don’t need any exceptional orientation skills. As you approach the site, you increasingly notice burnt-out tourists in the grass verge, dragging along camping equipment. They’ve had some tough days. About 5,000 people gathered on the site around 11 p.m. on Friday evening for an illegal rave party. It was impossible for the police to send all the partygoers home in the short term, so they decided to continue the event.
They tried to limit the damage with dissuasive actions near the military site and drug checks at approach roads, but not everyone appreciated that tolerance policy. Especially since the number of visitors in the wooded area later rose to over 10,000 and alcohol and substance use flourished. “This is not an innocent party. This is a promo party for drugs and civil disobedience. And people stand by and watch it,” said Flemish Minister of Justice and Enforcement Zuhal Demir (N-VA).
While the last revelers return home on Monday morning, police and soldiers sweep the grounds. The intention is to send away late campers and collect leftover items, but that takes little effort. The entire site is so clean that it is almost hard to believe that a mass event had taken place hours earlier.
“It’s much neater here than after Pukkelpop, isn’t it?” says Truienaar Johan De Strooper (35). He spent the entire weekend on the grounds, but Monday morning he drags garbage bags across the military grounds. The man is no stranger to rave parties. The low-threshold and self-sufficient character, where people can contribute something to the party themselves, is more attractive to him than the more formatted events in discotheques. Although he also wants to take care of the location. It’s a position shared by dozens of other partygoers: they pick up leftover trash all over downtown.
Injury
The promised care for the environment deserves some nuance. Several fences around the site were destroyed and a metal gate was cut through. An employee of the nearby company DronePort wonders who he can recover the damage from and also denounces the approach of the police and governments. “The governor said on television that people here were under the influence of drugs. When you tell something like that, you immediately attract a completely different audience.”
Employees of the Agency for Nature and Forests who measure the damage a little further away are also not enthusiastic about the spontaneous party. For example, a deer was chased by the loud music and crashed into the fence. In addition, there are indications that badger sets and nests of acorn mice are being damaged. “It is currently impossible to determine how extensive and how permanent the damage to nature is,” says Jeroen Denaeghel, spokesman for the Agency. Once the investigation is complete, the organization will file a claim against the organizers.
Native Americans
There was also little room in the festivities for the concerns of local residents. “We heard the music so well in recent days that it sometimes felt like we were at the rave party ourselves,” says Gerard Gilbert (57), who lives a stone’s throw from the military domain. He slept little during the long weekend and found it difficult to maneuver between the many parked cars, but he doesn’t let himself be fooled. “The ravers live on another planet, they are Indians. But they are very friendly,” he says. His wife Greta Claes (57) praises the way in which the waste was collected after the event. Since some of those present were already under the influence on Friday evening, they believe that the police made the right choice not to send them away immediately after arrival. Moreover, it is not entirely clear to them how agents should suddenly chase such a large group of people from a site.
For a successful rave party, it is important to be on location with as many people as possible, says partygoer Bram (34). He travels through Europe in a truck and has organized raves himself. He returned to Belgium especially for the party in Brustem. “The ravers are a tight-knit community who keep each other up to date on what’s planned. When friendly Germans approached me about Brustem two months ago, I only realized how great it would be here.” Meanwhile, an interested local resident listens to his story and then points approvingly to the garbage bag that Bram is holding. “If possible: see you next year!”
New initiators will probably be needed for a next edition. Police arrested nine people on Sunday night. Seven Dutch people are suspected of being involved in the organization. For them, the party is over for now.
