Berlin clubbers turn to illegal outdoor raves as pandemic cripples city’s nightlife
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Berlin — About 80 people dance to techno music throbbing out of a professional sound system decorated with neon lights in a glade in Berlin’s Grunewald forest. No face masks are in sight, and revellers keep as much or as little distance as they like.
This is what an illegal rave looks like after the coronavirus pandemic shut down the German capital’s iconic club scene in March, leaving many to look elsewhere for their party fix.
“We’re keeping a safe distance and bringing our garbage back with us. No-one lives around here,” said 36-year-old Anna, who would only gave her first name to protect her identity.
“It would be hard to say that we are disturbing someone,” she said, holding a baby in her arms.
A few hours later, after sunset, the police peacefully broke up the rave and asked the attendees to go home.
Social-distancing rules to contain the pandemic have crippled Berlin’s exuberant nightlife, a big draw for tourists — pitting those wanting to enjoy outdoor raves against others who see public parks as a space for quieter recreation.
Visitors to Berlin’s clubs spent an average of €200 a day in 2018, totalling €1.48bn, according to a study commissioned by Clubcommission, a network of local clubs.
Since restrictions started to be eased in May, illegal outdoor raves have been increasing — in inner-city parks and forests, along lakes on the outskirts of Berlin and in abandoned places, including a World War 2 bunker.
Media reported up to 3,000 people attended an unauthorised rave on July 25 in the Hasenheide park, in hipster hotspot Neukolln, where such events have been happening since March.
Raves across Europe
Berlin is not alone in having to find a way to deal with illegal raves and parties as, from inner-city London to the beaches of Portugal, thousands of young people try to escape the solitude of lockdown.
Such mass gatherings have added to fears a second deadly wave of infections could sweep across Europe.
Germany is already contending with a second wave of the coronavirus and risks squandering its early success by flouting social-distancing rules, the head of the German doctors’ union said last week.
Nonetheless, Berlin police spokesperson Valeska Jakubowski said the police’s strategy to handle illegal raves is “first to look for a conversation and then intervene against offenders”.
To avoid trouble, many partygoers are looking for green areas in distant ...
This is what an illegal rave looks like after the coronavirus pandemic shut down the German capital’s iconic club scene in March, leaving many to look elsewhere for their party fix.
“We’re keeping a safe distance and bringing our garbage back with us. No-one lives around here,” said 36-year-old Anna, who would only gave her first name to protect her identity.
“It would be hard to say that we are disturbing someone,” she said, holding a baby in her arms.
A few hours later, after sunset, the police peacefully broke up the rave and asked the attendees to go home.
Social-distancing rules to contain the pandemic have crippled Berlin’s exuberant nightlife, a big draw for tourists — pitting those wanting to enjoy outdoor raves against others who see public parks as a space for quieter recreation.
Visitors to Berlin’s clubs spent an average of €200 a day in 2018, totalling €1.48bn, according to a study commissioned by Clubcommission, a network of local clubs.
Since restrictions started to be eased in May, illegal outdoor raves have been increasing — in inner-city parks and forests, along lakes on the outskirts of Berlin and in abandoned places, including a World War 2 bunker.
Media reported up to 3,000 people attended an unauthorised rave on July 25 in the Hasenheide park, in hipster hotspot Neukolln, where such events have been happening since March.
Raves across Europe
Berlin is not alone in having to find a way to deal with illegal raves and parties as, from inner-city London to the beaches of Portugal, thousands of young people try to escape the solitude of lockdown.
Such mass gatherings have added to fears a second deadly wave of infections could sweep across Europe.
Germany is already contending with a second wave of the coronavirus and risks squandering its early success by flouting social-distancing rules, the head of the German doctors’ union said last week.
Nonetheless, Berlin police spokesperson Valeska Jakubowski said the police’s strategy to handle illegal raves is “first to look for a conversation and then intervene against offenders”.
To avoid trouble, many partygoers are looking for green areas in distant ...
