in Clisson, the gendarmes mobilized to watch over the revelers and the neighbors of the festival

Men and women in blue to watch over festival-goers in black. In addition to security guards, “Hell watch”, this team dedicated to the fight against “malicious behavior” and rescuers, the gendarmes also watch over the 60,000 daily festival-goers of Hellfest, in Clisson. It is in the evening that they are most numerousthey are about 150.

Pickpockets, the scourge of this kind of festival

They find themselves mostly offsite : gendarmes in uniform, but also in civilian clothes, on foot, by bicycle, on horseback, by car. A helicopter and a canine team can be hired if necessary. “We are on the outskirts, we also enter the campsite even if it belongs to the site because there are a lot of thefts”explains Lieutenant-Colonel David Bolze, commander of the gendarmerie company of Rezé. “We also have a discreet presence inside the site for anti-terrorism and to spot pickpockets, which are the scourge of this kind of festival.”

Assaults such as hands to the buttocks

Among the facts noted by the gendarmes, theft, loss of mobile phones and attacks “type, if you allow me the expression, hands on the buttocks”continues Lieutenant-Colonel David Bolze, “often with authors who recognize the facts and who apologize. But it is still taken into account judicially because it is characterized sexual assault”.

They behave very well and say hello to us when we pass

But it’s quite marginal underlines the policeman who appreciates the behavior of the festival-goers : “People behave very well, they are smiling, kind, they thank us and say hello when we pass”.