A bunch of fresh green algae and a few bales of straw placed in front of the entrance to the Côtes-d'Armor chamber of agriculture: a tense face-to-face confrontation between farmers and Extinction Rebellion (ER) activists on Friday denouncing the persistence of pollution of the coast.
To read also In Brittany, a "very important proliferation" of green algae in 2021
“
What you are doing here is indecent.
Do not blame (for this pollution) the guys (farmers, editor's note) who are there,
”exclaimed Didier Lucas, president of the chamber of agriculture, to the environmental activists who claim non-violence as a mode of action.
A "very important proliferation"
“
We need peasants.
It's up to you to tell the Ministry of Agriculture and Brussels that this agriculture is not going well, that we must change
”the agricultural model, retorted an activist.
“
You put the farmers into question every time.
It is to the State that we must go and say
"that this situation must end," Didier Lucas relaunched.
Read also Green algae: after its report, the Court of Auditors on a courtesy visit to Brittany
Brittany experienced this year a "
very significant proliferation
" of green algae and three quarters of strandings of these algae were concentrated in two bays of Côtes-d'Armor, according to the center for the study and valuation of algae ( Ceva) responsible for monitoring this phenomenon which has polluted certain Breton coasts for about fifty years.
The activists of Extinction Rebellion recalled that, according to the Court of Auditors, the nitrogen flows (nitrates) which feed the proliferation of green algae in the berries are "
more than 90% of agricultural origin
".
At the end of the exchange, Extinction Rebellion activists made a minute of silence “
for the green algae deaths and for the farmers who committed suicide
”.
Decomposing green algae emit poisonous gas which, in high concentrations, can be fatal.
According to Public Health France, 529 farmers committed suicide in 2016, the highest mortality by professional category.
