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In the entrance hall smoky with swirls of cannabis drag two shopping carts filled with corpses of bottles of alcohol.
On the pillar opposite, a loose sheet taped indicates: “
We voted in the general assembly (GA) not to authorize the sale of drugs.
(If you see any, do not hesitate to call to order).
A last underlined word under which was added: “
We are the forces of disorder
”.
The tone is set.
And just nine days after the student occupation decree on March 21, the damage to the campus of the University of Bordeaux, located on Place de la Victoire, is indeed clearly visible.
The tags “
ACAB
”, “
Ni *** the police
” or even the “A”, symbol of the anarchists, appear from the facade of the places, which want to be “
HQ of the fight
” Bordeaux against the pension reform.
Upstairs, the buildings are disfigured.
Tags on the walls, files thrown on the ground, furniture piled up against the windows, the university was ransacked.
Maya, one of the organizers of the occupation, admits that the damage has gone too far.
“The student movement wanted none of that.
Forcing doors so that we can sleep is normal, but not at this point
“says the member of the safety committee.
Open to each occupation to allow occupants to shower, the company apartments were literally devastated this year before being condemned.
"
Overwhelmed
" by the events, the organizers are worried about the image that these degradations reflect and their legal consequences.
The floors, access to which was also condemned on Thursday, should be "
restored and cleaned
", assures the young woman.
An opinion that is not necessarily unanimous.
"
There are various and varied practices on the issue
," concedes another member of the security committee.
Before adding: "
Personally, I think that artistic expression can go through the tags if we take into account the issues related to this building whose stone and wood are more difficult to recover than a door or a table that can be changed at a lower cost
”.
While dozens of tags already appear on the stone walls of the former faculty of medicine and pharmacy, a new rule prohibiting them was voted in GA this Thursday.
Access to rooftops has also been closed.
"
Point of honor
" that the organizers "
try to keep
" in this carnage: access to the library, closed by the management, has not been degraded despite attempts to intrusion.
Blockade of the Victory campus of the University of Bordeaux
Go to slideshow (20)
Party and Drug HQ
The places, which want to be HQ of the fight against the pension reform in Bordeaux, are struggling to organize themselves.
"
Bédo
(cannabis joint, editor's note)
, dodo, the heart of the revolution
", as a tag upstairs suggests?
At the heart of the difficulties of living together indeed: the consumption of drugs.
“
There are people who are addicts and who consume within the occupation.
We can't turn a blind eye to it, but it's irrelevant to ban it like the state does, because there will still be some,
”says while smoking a joint, Lola, 21, student in sociology and also a member of the safety committee.
A prevention stand and bins for syringes have been installed in the toilets.
Visibly already grayed out
Figaro
around 7:00 p.m. Thursday, a group of young people having an aperitif in the courtyard threw gravel at each other while drinking beers.
States of intoxication that the security committee tries to filter at the entrance.
“
What has been acted on in recent days is collective vigilance.
The challenge is to raise the awareness of all the people who return, including those who come because they have been told that it is a party,
”says Antonin, who will soon be wearing the armband.
For others, saying "
hi
" in passing is enough to enter the premises between 8 am and 10 pm.
"
We don't want it to be a nightclub with security guards who choose who can enter the facies
", assures the activist.
Before admitting that supporters of the extreme right "
with violent practices
are banished from this appendix of the left and the extreme left.
In other words: "
If a group like that approaches, there will be at best a closing of the door, at worst a physical confrontation
", warns the young man.
Far from
the "prestigious look
" promised to his students, President Dean Lewis "
deplores the gradual degradation
" of the premises on the University of Bordeaux website.
Contacted several times, he did not wish to answer questions from Le
Figaro
.
Since the administrative closure of the building on March 22 for an indefinite period, the administrative staff has been teleworking.
Two weeks before the finals, educational continuity is still being organized for the students concerned (Faculties of Psychology, Sociology, Educational Sciences and Anthropology).
Political demands?
"
Sociologically, we all agree to be against the Macron government
," says Romane, 20, a sociology student on the campus she occupies.
Like her comrades, who use the same phrase, she believes that "
the forced passage of 49-3 is the last straw that broke the camel's back, even if the claims go far beyond that
".
Against liberal capitalism, the inequalities that thrive and the “
super violent police repression in Bordeaux
”, many of them claim “
the taxing of the richest
” and the deficiency of a welfare state that would not do enough.
Titi, who returned to the scene out of nostalgia after having actively participated in the 2019 blockade, is one of them.
He also campaigns for "
the freedom of the right to failure
" and the end of the Parcoursup selection so that everyone can "
enter a master's degree without necessarily having validated a license
" or "
attend a university course
" according to their
wishes.
.
The real problem for them?
The "
non-listening of the people
", they respond by castigating the dissolution of "Uprisings of the earth" after the violent clashes in Sainte-Soline.
Nine days after their annexation of the places, they therefore try to create a “
welcoming space
”, a source of information to aggregate the struggles.
An ambition that the inter-union and the committees of employees on strike in Bassens, Bordeaux right bank, Bordeaux center, Mérignac or even Bordeaux Montaigne University, have every intention of channeling.
Gathered in an amphitheater on the Victory campus on Thursday evening, these adults, mostly in their forties, were urged to "
frame the occupation
".
And above all, to “
legitimize it with management by showing that there are striking staff who meet there
”.
Blockade appeased at the University of Bordeaux Montaigne
At the Bordeaux Montaigne campus in Pessac, blocked since March 15, Lionel Larré, who has chaired the premises since 2020, has opted for another approach.
Although degraded by tags on the outside, all the buildings, closed, have been preserved from the inside.
Offices and classrooms are intact, so that administrative staff have been able to work on site since Friday.
A building independent of the body of faculties was made available to students opposed to the pension reform before being forced.
In dialogue with the management, its occupants did not devastate it.
“
Compromises and agreements have been found
” on the holding of the exams, specifies Lionel Larré at
Figaro
.
If the partials should be maintained,
"outside the occupation period
".
The presidency also urges students to lift the blockade by "
offering them to facilitate their mobilization in an open university, which has a role to play in this reflection
".
A police evacuation is not the order of the day as long as "
the blockade remains respectful and without damage to property
".
The continuation or not of this occupation must be voted in GA this Friday.