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Angry Mob Vandalises ‘Rich Camp’ at Burning Man And We Don’t Know What To Feel

BLACK ROCK DESERT, UNITED STATES: A "Burning Man" participant holds up his arms as the wooden man effigy is burned at the conclusion of the week-long "Burning Man Festival" 06 September in the Black Rock Desert in the northwestern part of the state of Nevada. More than 15,000 people congregated at this man-made town in the desert to celebrate radical, creative self-expression. AFP PHOTO Mike NELSON/mn (Photo credit should read MIKE NELSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Burning Man bore the brunt of some very angry revellers.

Nevada’s most popular music festival used to stand as a symbol of unity and peace. People from all over the world came together and built a temporary city, an experiment in community and art influenced by 10 main principles – radical inclusion, self-reliance, self-expression, community cooperation, civic responsibility, gifting, decommodification, participation, immediacy and leaving no trace.

(Image Credit: www.instagram.com/burningman)

But the recent inflow of celebrated personnel and splurging millionaires has given rise to exclusive camps that have closed their doors to other campers. These camps are famously known for hiring cooks, beefing security, assembling the best performers and inviting jet-setting celebrities for their own exclusive entertainment. This, obviously, did not go down well with the public who believed these camps were going against the very principles that Burning Man was built on.

The camp that eventually ended up bearing the brunt of this simmering anger was White Ocean, a camp first co-founded three years ago by entrepreneurs Timur Sardarov, the son of a Russian oil magnate, Oliver Ripley and trance DJ Paul Oakenfold.

(Image Credit: www.insomniac.com)

Hooligans raided the camp and vandalised the area, even going to the extent of cutting the electric lines! It’s organisers wrote on Facebook: “Guys, I think what happened last night should be known on social media … A band of hooligans raided our camp, stole from us, pulled and sliced all of our electrical lines leaving us with no refrigeration and wasting our food and glued our trailer doors shut, vandalised most of our camping infrastructure, dumped 200 gallons of potable water flooding our camp.”

Do you think a harsh retort like this was a necessary step to maintain the ideals of Burning Man or did they take it a little too far?