The violent clashes between demonstrators and gendarmes in Sainte-Soline inevitably caused collateral damage.
A photographer from
Sud Ouest
, who was covering the demonstration near the Deux-Sèvres basin, was hit by throwing stones and Molotov cocktails, announces the regional daily.
Five gendarmerie vehicles were burned using these incendiary objects.
The man suffered head injuries and burns to his hands.
The newspaper published a photo of his collaborator, his face bloodied, a thick bandage around his skull, and a hand also bandaged.
Another
Sud Ouest
journalist was slightly burned in the face.
LIVE - Mega-basins: a demonstrator in absolute emergency and 24 gendarmes injured, including one seriously
These violent clashes left many injured among the gendarmes and the demonstrators, according to Gérald Darmanin and testimonies collected by AFP.
The Minister of the Interior denounced the "
inexcusable
" violence of
the "far left
" which injured 24 gendarmes and seven among the demonstrators, according to a provisional report.
But the organizers evoke a much heavier balance sheet, with a person between life and death, information not immediately confirmed.
A much heavier toll?
According to one of the organizers of the rally in Sainte-Soline, the environmental movement of the Uprisings of the Earth, the clashes left "
several dozen seriously injured
" among the demonstrators, three of whom were rescued in "
vital emergency
".
According to the LFI deputy for Haute-Vienne Manon Meunier, interviewed on the spot by AFP, two wounded would have their vital prognosis engaged, information not confirmed by the authorities.
Read also“Mega-basins”: ecologists and rebels will converge in numbers to make their voices heard
“
I saw at least 30 injured but there are more.
Some had lost consciousness, others had blood on their heads.
Many injured in the feet and head
, ”said Claire Auger, a teacher who came to their aid earlier.
“
The Samu could not pick them up.
We only saw an ambulance.
We asked elected officials to do something.
It was total panic, it lasted more than an hour before it started to evacuate
, ”added this witness.
