France: No Refuge for the Apocalypse

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/world/europe/france-no-refuge-for-the-apocalypse.html

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Local officials in Bugarach, in southwestern France, will temporarily bar access to the town’s mountain to prevent it from being overrun by visitors looking for a haven in the event of an apocalypse that some people believe will occur on Dec. 21, 2012, based on a particular interpretation of the Mayan calendar. About a hundred police officers and firefighters will block access to the mountain from Dec. 19 to Dec. 23 for “safety reasons” and to ensure that “any festive gathering of people, including rave parties and massive highly alcoholic street parties, will be banned,” according to a news release issued by Éric Freysselinard, the local prefect.  Last year, the mayor of Bugarach, a tiny village at the foot of the mountain, alerted the local authorities after he read on Internet forums that some people planned to take refuge on the mountain next month.