RAVE CHIEF THREATENS GRIDLOCK IN FRANCE

The British organizer of a giant rave in France threatened yesterday
to halt the country's holiday traffic in protest against a government
policy against free music festivals.

Allan Blinkhorn, an organiser of the Teknival, due to start "somewhere
in the south of France" on Thursday, said he planned a slow-moving
convoy of trucks carrying loudspeakers on the main motorway south from
tomorrow night.

"Two trucks packed with sound systems travelling at 50kph (30mph),
means 400 kilometres (250 miles) of jams," Mr Blinkhorn said.

The Operation Escargot, or Snail Operation, copied from the tactics of
protesting French farmers, is a response to a new law that allows the
government to close down unauthorized music festivals and seize all
equipment on the site.

The law was introduced in May by the previous, Socialist-led
government but the new centre-right interior minister, Nicolas
Sarkozy, has warned that he will apply it rigorously as part of a
clamp-down on crime and "insecurity".

"Sarkozy is refusing all dialogue," said Mr Blinkhorn, a long-time
organizer of raves in France. "He is pushing us underground. We are
going to stand up to him and ruin his weekend." The mid-August weekend
is traditionally one of the most crowded on French roads.

Mr Blinkhorn recommended motorists heading for the south to avoid the
A7 along the Rhone valley and "take the ordinary roads".The Teknival
is among the biggest French raves of the year, with disc jockeys and
sound systems from all over Europe and up to 20,000 party-goers. Until
recently, the law authorizing a clamp-down on raves had hardly been
applied, but police broke up a small rave in the Ardeche in the south
of France on Friday and seized the equipment.

There have been rumours that the Teknival might be switched to
northern Italy but the organizers insisted yesterday that it would go
ahead in France. Under the new law, music festivals are allowed only
if the organizers get approval in advance from the local prefect
(senior national government official). Rave organizers say that most
attempts to seek permission have been systematically refused.