Le Figaro Lyon
Tables covered with paintings, roads blocked... For several years, environmental activists have been multiplying punching actions in France.
Questioned on the subject on Wednesday, Grégory Doucet, the environmentalist mayor of Lyon, considered that these demonstrations "
are relevant and legitimate
".
“
It is good that young people are committed to the future of humanity beyond their small personal future.
It's very gratifying that young people get involved other than to find out which pair of shoes they're going to buy tomorrow
,” he commented.
"It's just embarrassment"
Gregory Doucet
The EELV councilor also supported these actions in form: “
In reality what are they doing?
Yes, they create here and there genes.
But that's just embarrassment.
And even when it's a statue that is repainted in the public space, they use water-based paint.
It is non-violent and symbolic.
“And to issue a little criticism all the same: “
sometimes the form is not immediately linked to the subject.
And we do not see the immediate link between the two.
This is the case for works of art, for example.
»
Asked about the anti-ecological feeling that these actions can arouse, Grégory Doucet compared the activists to Rosa Parks, a figure in the fight against racial segregation in the United States in the 1950s. “
We gave her the same answer when she refused to get up on his bus: "no, but do you think that's the best way to fight apartheid (sic)?
»
Extinction Rebellion stops civil disobedience
Last fall, Bruno Bernard, the president (EELV) of the metropolis of Lyon, spoke out against road blockages: “
In terms of form, I disapprove of these blockages.
I do not believe that this type of action advances the cause
.
On January 1, the environmental organization Extinction Rebellion announced that it was suspending its civil disobedience operations in the United Kingdom, preferring to focus on organizing demonstrations.
In France, the activists of the “Dernière Rénovation” collective do not seem to have the same approach as their Anglo-Saxon counterparts.
This Wednesday, January 4, they covered the door of the Matignon hotel in Paris with orange paint.
Two people were arrested at the scene.