Despite the reminder of the safety instructions, on both sides, they knew they would end up doing battle.
On this spring Saturday, anti-venery activists and hunters came to blows in the forest of Rambouillet (Yvelines).
The Bonnelles-Rambouillet crew was this time accompanied by shooting hunters, who came to support "rurality" against anti-hunting activists.
Nearly 70 people gathered at the start.
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Three associations met to film the hunters: PACCT (For the Abolition of Hunting and Traditional Hunts), the Friends of the Woods and the Anti-Hunting Section.
For the PACCT association alone, 58 activists walked through the forest by car and bicycle.
In this war of images, especially on social networks, everyone is armed with their camera-pedestrian or their mobile phone.
At the end of the morning, the first scuffles broke out.
Bikes overturned, beating and pushing
While activists cycle past the followers, the reproaches start.
Quickly, the tone rises between the two groups: bikes are overturned, people jostle each other and shots go off.
"It is true that today it is a little hotter than usual, on both sides we are quite tense", summarizes Cécile, an anti-hunting activist.
After a few minutes, the spirits eventually calm down and everyone separates.
The Bonnelles-Rambouillet crew was accompanied by shooting hunters.
THE PARISIAN
A few hours later in the middle of the afternoon, a hundred hunters and activists found themselves at a crossroads.
"Someone from our region was taken to task by a group of hunters, we approached to protect him and things got out of hand," says Muriel from the PACCT association.
The one who received a punch on the temple believes that "it was more violent than usual: they brought in very aggressive shooting hunters".
Present at the time of the facts, the gendarmes would have intervened only orally to calm the spirits.
"Pure provocation"
A version obviously contested on the side of the hunters.
"The militants got in the middle of the horses and we formed a cordon sanitaire to protect them, from there everyone started to push each other", explains Cyril de Beaudignies.
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The latter accuses the anti-hunting of having spread lemongrass to disturb the dogs.
For him, the militants were in "pure provocation".
Eventually the hunt ended there and no deer were killed.
The two camps filmed the facts and intend to file a complaint with the gendarmerie in the coming days.
