The illegal rave party at the old military airfield of Brustem, near Sint-Truiden in Limburg, is over. The music installations were all taken down late last night and most of the participants have since left the domain. According to Limburg governor Jos Lantmeeters, the public prosecutor's office is also already on the trail of the organisers.
Since late last night, calm seems to have more or less returned in Brustem, near Sint-Truiden. A large, illegal rave party had been going on there on the military grounds since 11pm on Friday evening. Thousands of revellers, as many as 10,000 at the peak, packed the old military hangars there. Due to the size of the rave, the provincial crisis plan was put in operation.
On Saturday and Sunday, police tried to monitor and secure the event. They tried to deter people from accessing the site of the illegally organised party as well as approach roads by taking people out of the traffic and carrying out checks. Support was provided to local residents.
Yesterday, revellers began to leave and music installations were taken down. Police remained at the scene to make sure the exodus was safe and to prevent those under the influence of alcohol and drugs from leaving by car.
"Currently about 100 people are still on the site," Limburg governor Jos Lantmeeters (Flemish nationalist) said this morning. "There are still some 80 to 90 vehicles, but they also belong to people who are sleeping off their alcohol consumption. We have chosen not to remove them by force but soon the site will be completely empty."
The security forces opted for a non-violent approach, the governor stresses. "We tried to confront people as little as possible, but to put as much pressure on as possible." According to Lantmeeters, there are examples of raves from France and Italy where police did use violence. "Look at La Boum, the illegal festival organised in Brussels during the pandemic: there using 600 police officers they tried to break up crowds of 2,000. That just increased the problems and there was a lot of physical damage. We wanted to avoid that."
Flemish Justice Minister Zuhal Demir (Flemish nationalist) yesterday called for electricity to be cut off. "Those are solutions that are very simple but obviously don't work," Lantmeeters chuckled. "First of all, these people had their own power groups with them. And secondly, if you were going to cut off the power there on the spot, when there are 10,000 people there, the vast majority of whom are heavily drugged, you are creating great danger. We found pamphlets calling for people to unite against the police, if the music systems were switched off."
The governor defended the approach of the security forces. "I think we proved that, in less than 12 hours, we can end such events in a non-violent way, without any misery. I think the whole of Sint-Truiden is happy that we did it that way." According to the governor, the ravers planned to continue "at least until tonight and maybe even until Thursday evening".
Lantmeeters stressed that as governor, he only has the authority to solve the problem. "People wonder: how can this happen? But I don't know. That is not part of my remit. That has to be examined."
What about the massive drug use on site: is that simply to be tolerated?
"That is in no way to be tolerated," Lantmeeters further says. "The police carried out strict checks, both on incoming and outgoing traffic. There were arrests and a lot of seizures. Of course they could not go on the premises. Drug use was so massive and included dangerous drugs, that we would have ended up in a very toxic situation."
Meanwhile, the public prosecutor's office is investigating the organisers of the rave. "And I can say that it has already achieved a lot of results. Police are on the trail of the organisers and they are not organisers from Belgiuym. The public prosecutor's office will communicate soon. But people should know: this will not go unpunished."
Lantmeeters speaks of "heavy penalties". "Serious offences have been committed: entering military domain without permission, excessive use of alcohol, organising illegal parties in a nature reserve. The public prosecutor's office will take action."
Later, when the site is empty, the authorities will also measure up the damage. "We will also see what the damage is to the neighbours and will help them file damage claims. When we see that the city of Sint-Truiden can handle on its own, our task as a province is over."