we spent an evening in a clandestine nightclub

We identify an account on the Instagram social network that offers private Parisian parties, for an entrance fee. We register: meet the following Saturday at an address that will be communicated to us just two hours before the event. The theme, an oriental evening.

Before going there, we decide to test ourselves, to make sure that we are negative for Covid-19. All evening, we will also wear a mask.

The address takes us to an affluent Parisian suburb. And there’s a crowd on the sidewalk. “It’s the second time we’ve come”, a customer tells us. All the codes of a nightclub are there: a bouncer welcomes us. Behind the gate, a hotel referenced on the Internet, visibly privatized for the occasion.

Admission is charged: 30 euros for girls, 100 euros for boys. No health protocol. As in a nightclub, we are given a small bracelet giving us unlimited access to the bar.

On the dance floor, there are about 200 people. We are the only ones wearing the mask. There is a DJ, a bar, and even a VIP area as is customary in clubs. Most customers are students. They are under 25 years old.

Some even admit to working in the hospital. “Basically, I was at the Georges Pompidou hospital in intensive care, now I am a temporary worker”, says a hostess.

According to the Hauts-de-Seine prefecture, an evening like this is illegal. An investigation will be opened. In establishments welcoming the public, the health pass must be required and compliance with barrier gestures verified by the organizers. There is nothing here. And if we are to believe the clientele, these evenings are in vogue.

“They all borrow our nightclub codes. Ticket office, more or less bogus, staff at the entrance… But they don’t have a health pass, with us yes, there is the presentation of a health card. ‘identity.

Patrick Malvaes, president of the nightclub union

to “The eye of 20 hours”

Paid evenings, promoted on social networks. Unfair competition according to the president of the national union of discotheques, Patrick Malvaes, who denounces: “It’s disco minus the health protections in terms of Covid, in terms of drugs, without age control. It’s shocking!”

Contacted, neither the organizers nor the managers of the hotel wished to answer us.

Next week, another party is already planned by the same organizers, in another Parisian place.