Spanish village hosts 5,000 in an illegal but 'magnificently organised' rave party under cops' watch

About 270 miles south of the Spaniard capital Madrid, the quiet village of La Peza became an unexpected neighbour to a massive rave party on New Year. With 5,000 people in attendance, an unannounced week-long affair shocked La Peza's residents and authorities alike.The attendants reportedly arrived in trucks and caravans, setting up tents, food stands and several music stages about a mile from the village centre, The Guardian reported. The week-long affair consisted of selling T-shirts, soap, juices and beers with individuals in dreadlocks reported to be dancing out to mark the dawn of 2023.

According to Spanish newspaper El País, the party attendants had no permits for the week-long event. The newspaper reported that entry was free,and youngsters from all over Spain and Western Europe, including from Belgium, Denmark and Italy were in attendance.

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"We are 1,200 people here. Imagine, we woke up Friday morning and we were 5,200 people. By Saturday we were 6,000," said Fernando Álvarez, the mayor of La Peza municipality, according to The Guardian. "Truthfully, it was a bit chaotic."

The party music was heard across La Peza, and ran nonstop. "It was 24 hours a day of chin chin boom," Álvarez told The Guardian.

The municipality filed a complaint with national police.

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The police, however, decided to keep watch over the festival instead of evicting the attendants.

"We prefer that the party dissolve by itself. An eviction would generate more problems," a representative for Spain's law enforcement, the Civil Guard, told El País newspaper.

A total of 22 music groups reportedly promoted the event. But no central organiser of the party has come forward so far.

When an El País journalist asked a Belgian attendant how she located the event, she told the paper, "Magic."

Even the village mayor Álvarez was impressed. He told The Guardian that if he had figured out who planned the illegal party, he would have hired them to plan the village carnival.

"Frankly it was magnificently organised," Álvarez told the outlet.

"It was like a small town. They had a bakery, pizzeria, clothing shops, people who would braid your hair – they had absolutely everything. I'm amazed that they managed to set that all up in the span of a few hours."

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