The events happened on October 4th 1997. The Alliés-Nés wanted to open a squat near Lille to welcome artists, people with any cultural projects who needed a studio during the winter to prepare for the summer season. We wanted to squat an old factory left many years ago and decided to organise a 2 day rave in it to celebrate its opening. That very evening , some policemen arrived at the same time as the people did. (They were attracted by so many cars waitibng in the town centre at the meeting point). First they allowed us to have our party if the sound was turned down. Eventually, by 2 am, 180 C.R.S. (the French Armed police called for huge riots or demonstrations) arrived and ordered us to stop the party. We tried to negotiate with them by providing them with a letter signed by everyone and addressed to the mayor of the town. It lasted about 1 hour but no compromise could be reached, so the police asked the C.R.S. to make us leave the place. They charged & the people divided themselves into 2 halves. One ran out & the other - about 160 people - locked themselves in the factory. The C.R.S. were merciless & smashed people in their faces, including girls and under 18's, as well as a cameraman who was there by chance. But they couldn't enter the factory as the doors were locked. We played music again even much louder than before. It took them one hour to enter the place, breaking one of the walls thanks to their truncheons. Then they threw tear gas at us to be able to catch everyone & were so furious that they smashed the sound system. Then they searched us one by one & fortunately all they scored was 2g of draw.

The results of all that shit were: 3 Technics broken, as well as a mixer, HP ., a total damage worth £2500.

4 of the protagonists were taken to the police station & kept for more than 20 hours.

While charging people, C.R.S. were really violent which was reported by the media.

The C.R.S. charged the people 3 times & smashed everything around, including windscreens, throwing tear gas into cars.