Since June 17 and until tomorrow this Sunday evening, more than 400,000 metal music fans will have crossed paths in Clisson for the Hellfest which, this year, organized two editions with Metallica closing. Nearly half a million rock metal music fans not really worried about the phenomenon of wild bites that plagues large gatherings found themselves, but nevertheless, among the organizers, the concern was great.
Three minor cases
“Of the three cases we have had here, we have two where we see a very small trace, very light”. The cases mentioned by Frédéric Guéné, the head of the SNSM rescue system deployed at Hellfest, are bites or suspicions of savage bites that three festival-goers, a man and two women, say they have suffered on the site. “They just remember being bitten when they were at crowd level. They were dizzy, but like there, we still had a lot of heatstroke too. There’s stress too “, specifies Frédéric Guéné.
No recorded sexual assault
It is above all stress that causes this phenomenon in large gatherings. At Hellfest, no sexual assault was recorded following a sting. Nevertheless, the emergency services and security agents have been trained to detect any suspicious traces during an examination. “We have started a process. If we find something on the pat-down, we arrest the person and hand them over to the authorities. It’s a bit silly and mean, but it’s a new phenomenon so the process is new. Above all, it does not cause you to fall into a psychosis”, explains David Le Nagard, of the company All Access.
For Hellfest, in any case, it is first of all the heat wave of last week and the rain of this weekend which mobilizes the most vital forces.