Greenpeace activists demonstrated Thursday, August 27 in front of symbolic places to denounce France's “ inaction ” and “ silence ” on the fires ravaging the Amazon.
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A dozen activists, including one wearing a mask bearing the effigy of President Emmanuel Macron, deployed cardboard trees and a banner " Amazon on fire, Macron still accomplice " while brandishing smoke bombs in front of the premises of the Ministry of Ecological Transition in Paris, noted AFP journalists. Similar actions took place in front of the Ministry of Agriculture or the Eiffel Tower in the capital and in front of 17 prefectures in the region, said Greenpeace.
" Part of complicity "
The NGO denounces the “ inaction ” of Paris in the face of deforestation, in particular by fires, in the Amazon, for livestock and agriculture in particular. She also launched an online petition to challenge the authorities on the matter.
About ten activists were present. RAPHAEL LAFARGUE / AFP
Emmanuel Macron estimated in August 2019 at the G7 summit in Biarritz that France had “ a part of complicity ” in these attacks on the Amazon rainforest, via so-called imported deforestation (imports of soybeans for breeding for example ).
“ Since then, absolutely nothing has been done to put an end to France's responsibility for the irreversible destruction of the largest tropical forest in the world, ” denounced Cécile Leuba, forestry campaigner at Greenpeace France, criticizing “ l 'government inaction and silence in the face of the climatic and environmental disaster that the Amazon is going through ”, even though France adopted in 2018 a National Strategy to fight imported deforestation.