The police intervened overnight from Monday to Tuesday to unblock the Donges oil terminal (Loire-Atlantique) which had been occupied for a week by strikers, noted an AFP photographer.
According to a source from the CGT to AFP, the oil port was evacuated in less than 2 hours to facilitate the unloading of a cargo of diesel.
The mobile gendarmes started their intervention around 2 a.m., we learned from the same source.
They secured the area at dawn, in particular by extinguishing fires lit by the demonstrators, saw an AFP photographer.
Around 4:30 a.m., no more protesters were present on the site, according to the photographer.
A source close to the strikers contacted by AFP before the end of the intervention reported "
clashes
" during the night.
According to this source, the security forces “
started charging
” the demonstrators “
as soon as they arrived
” around 2:05 a.m.
According to the photographer, a dozen law enforcement vans were visible on the site around 4:30 am.
Contacted by AFP, the prefecture's on-call duty was unable to confirm whether an intervention by the police had taken place, or the presence of injured people.
The prefecture has scheduled a press briefing on the situation in the morning.
“
We are blocked next to it, we cannot pass
”, told AFP the source close to the strikers, who mentioned the establishment of “
harrows
” by the gendarmes.
“
We must have been 200-300 strikers.
Donges has been blocked for a week
, ”recalled this source.
Among the demonstrators who occupied the site of the Donges refinery: refinery agents, dockers, or even employees of the Cordemais thermal power plant.
