French police battle party-goers

REDON, (France): Five police officers were injured in western France as they broke up a 1,500-strong illegal rave, authorities said Saturday, with one party-goer losing a hand.

Police fired teargas to disperse the crowd, who defied an 11:00 pm coronavirus curfew on Friday and stayed on into Saturday afternoon in the area around a race course near Redon in Brittany.

There were “very violent clashes” when 400 police intervened, prefect Emmanuel Berthier said, adding the violence lasted more than seven hours through the night.

Police detained five men and opened an inquiry into violence against people in positions of public authority.