A year after the violent demonstration against megabasins in Sainte-Soline, in Deux-Sèvres, they want to show that the mobilization is not weakening.
Opponents of these agricultural water reserves organize a weekend of “commemorations of actions” and announce a complaint against the Minister of the Interior.
On March 25, 2023, a gathering was improvised around a reserve under construction protected by more than 3,000 gendarmes, despite the ban from the Deux-Sèvres prefecture.
According to the organizers, 30,000 people took part, 6,000 to 8,000 according to the authorities.
Violent clashes broke out, leaving many injured, including two demonstrators who fell into a coma.
“Mega-booms”
A gathering is planned for Saturday between Melle, a neighboring town, and Sainte-Soline, with “construction of a cairn” and “speech in support of the victims of police violence”, before a picnic followed by a “tournament of pétanque and palet”.
Fewer than 500 people are expected there, according to a police source who reports “vigilance”, without “major concerns”.
The Deux-Sèvres prefecture has banned the transport of explosive materials and authorized the use of drones to monitor the area.
VIDEO.
Controversies over the Samu and the injured in Sainte-Soline: a look back at 4 days of communication battle
Monday evening, at least thirty “mega-booms” were also announced in front of gendarmes and prefectures across the country, in reference to the more than 5,000 tear gas grenades fired on March 25, 2023. A total of 2,000 to 3,000 people could be there. participate in France, according to the police source.
The environmentalist collective Earth Uprisings, which the government sought to dissolve in vain last year, also announced on Tuesday a schedule of “mass direct actions” for the coming months, starting with a call to converge nearby of “Sainte-Soline, 1 year later”, from this Friday, March 22, until March 31.
Furthermore, a “collective referral to the Court of Justice of the Republic for false testimony” must be presented on Sunday against Gérald Darmanin, accused of having “lied several times” about the progress of the demonstration.
Also read: Sainte-Soline: at the heart of the debates, the impossible dialogue on water control
According to the organizers of these “commemorative actions”, the Sainte-Soline demonstration “marked the history of the fight for the defense of water by its scale, its determination, but also by the policy of terror applied by a violent and irresponsible government.”
In a report, the Human Rights League denounced a “disproportionate use” of weapons (tear gas grenades, LBD) by the police.
The Rennes military prosecutor's office is responsible for an investigation.
For its part, a parliamentary commission concluded, in mid-November, that the three movements which had called for demonstrations in Sainte-Soline bore “crushing responsibility”, despite the prefectural ban.
In mid-January, after a heated trial, the Niort court sentenced three figures from these collectives to suspended prison sentences, all three of whom appealed.
A new mobilization was announced at the end of July in Poitou, just before the Paris Olympic Games.