Rave chief threatens gridlock in France

The British organiser 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 organiserof 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 unauthorised 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 organiser 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 Rhône 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 authorising a clamp-down on raves had hardly been applied, but police broke up a small rave in the Ardéche 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 organisers insisted yesterday that it would go ahead in France. Under the new law, music festivals are allowed only if the organisers get approval in advance from the local prefect (senior national government official). Rave organisers say that most attempts to seek permission have been systematically refused.