French Lawmakers Pass First-Reading Crackdown on Illegal ‘Free Parties’

Overview

• The National Assembly approved a tougher bill on illegal techno gatherings in a 78–67 first-reading vote, as the government readies a stricter Ripost proposal for Senate debate in May.
• Free parties, which are open-access and usually undeclared, would expose anyone helping to organize them to up to six months in jail and a €5,000 fine.
• Participants would face a €1,500 ticket that rises to €3,000 for repeat offenses, and police would be required to confiscate sound equipment.
• The bill lowers the trigger for mandatory prefecture notification from 500 attendees to 250, a change the sponsor says better matches typical crowd sizes.
• The text exempts people working only on harm reduction, yet artists and groups such as Technopol say criminalizing partygoers will cut access to outreach and emergency help and make risky events harder to monitor.