Alex Trelinski
AN ILLEGAL rave was staged in Novelda last weekend with music levels so high that the noise was heard 20 kilometres away.
The event started on Friday in the La Arcillera on the site of a former clandestine motocross circuit.
Access to the area was straight-forward via two roads running close to the Vinapolo river.
Notifications were sent out via social media on Thursday with a peak attendance of around 1,000 people despite the efforts of the Policia Local and the Guardia Civil to stop attendees getting through.
The site was abandoned on Monday afternoon with the landowner filing no complaints about the event.
Novelda residents complained about noise levels generated by 60 speakers brought in by lorries to the area.
The sheer volume meant the event was heard in Elda, Petrer, Sax and Monovar, where the Policia Local there tried to find out where the noise was coming from.
40 complaints were issued by the police against rave attendees and one person was arrested for disobeying the orders of the police.
Complaints filed mainly involved the seizure of drugs and drug trafficking.
Three vehicles were towed away and a citation was also issued over alcohol sales.
The Novelda police chief, Rafa Sarrio, said that the party was not just illegal because of the noise, but there was no provision for security or health.
“Let’s imagine that there had been a sexual assault there, because there were no controls, nobody would know anything,” he said.
“On Sunday afternoon somebody suffered a fall and had to be taken to a health centre by private car rather than by ambulance,” Sarrio added.
Earlier this month, a rave took place on a protected volcano in Feurteventura in the Canary Islands and a six-day New Year rave was staged in the Murcia region at Fuente Alamo.
The Fuente Alamo event was held in a semi-desert area on a former racetrack and was attended by 8,000 people- many of whom came from France, Italy and Germany.
Kicking off on December 30, the illegal rave started when a group of anonymous organisers broke through a chain onto the course.
The same group, who organized a similar rave in La Peza, near Granada, last year, set up stages, speakers and food stalls.
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