Lubrizol: four years after the fire, more than a hundred demonstrators in Rouen

"Lubrizol, four years later, we do not forget, we do not forgive": between 100 and 150 people gathered Tuesday evening in Rouen (Seine-Maritime) for the anniversary of the fire that occurred at Lubrizol on September 26, 2019. The demonstrators met in front of the courthouse, before marching in the city center of Rouen and simulating the trial of the industrialist.

"This gathering aims to fulfill two objectives: it is a way to show politicians, the investigating judge that we do not forget" and "it is also a way of recalling that since 2019, there has been no reaction from the political and regulatory power," said Gerald le Corre, CGT and member of the Unitary Collective Lubrizol, Bolloré and Co.

#Lubrizol #4ans #Anniversaire #Rouen pic.twitter.com/4sUufCDUrF

— Unknown Scale (@EchelleInconnue) September 26, 2023

"The criminal case is progressing little," said the trade unionist, for whom "industrialists continue to play with our lives and our health", while "on the side of the State, it is said to increase controls but at constant numbers". "The question is not whether there will be other industrial accidents like Lubrizol. The question is when and where it will take place," he warned.

For Enora Chopard, EELV municipal councillor in Rouen, present at the demonstration, "promises had been made to secure the populations and strengthen controls, it is quite the opposite that happened". Simon de Carvalho, Lubrizol's disaster association, said he was worried about "the fate of the victims". "We also denounce the fact that nothing concrete has been done to take into account the industrial risk," he continued. "If the number of participants is modest today, citizens are still very concerned by the subject. We saw it at the time of the Bolloré Logistics fire," he said.

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The fire of September 26, 2019 at a Lubrizol automotive lubricants site classified Seveso high threshold had caused no casualties but had caused a gigantic plume of black smoke, and the civil parties fear long-term consequences on human health and the environment. Nearly 10,000 tons of chemicals had burned.

A fire that broke out in January 2023 at the Bolloré Logistics site in Grand-Couronne in Seine-Maritime, without causing any casualties, has revived their fears. This fire had affected a warehouse where 12,000 lithium car batteries were stored, on an industrial site not classified Seveso.