a gendarmerie van attacked by hooded demonstrators

Several hundred people gathered on Saturday south of Bordeaux to denounce a “large, useless project” worth around fifteen billion euros. They also attacked the police

A gendarmerie van was attacked by around fifty hooded demonstrators around 3:20 p.m. Saturday October 12 on the sidelines of the demonstration against the LGV project south of Bordeaux, according to the journalist from France Bleu Gironde present on site. The soldiers had to flee their vehicle urgently, evacuated by the firefighters who came to free them.

The events occurred when between 800 and 1,000 people gathered at the call of the Uprisings of the Earth to demonstrate on site against the future rail link between Bordeaux, Toulouse and Dax. They are in a camp set up on private land in the small town of Lerm-et-Musset, 75 km south of Bordeaux, noted France Bleu Gironde.

The vehicle, with four gendarmes inside, found itself mired in the forest and the attack gave rise to a few projectiles, including tear gas. The demonstrators then defaced the vehicle and spray painted “that’s for the helicopter” above, in reference to the flight by a gendarmerie helicopter of the demonstrators’ camp in the middle of the night. They also stole equipment from inside the van, including a riot shield.

The prefect of Gironde “condemns this unacceptable behavior towards the security and emergency forces” in a message posted on X Saturday afternoon. No injuries were reported. Until then, the atmosphere was calm, however reports France Bleu Gironde indicating that the demonstrators are now in the forest building a wooden lookout.

Mortar fire had also taken place earlier in the night against a gendarmerie helicopter. The prefecture specifies on X that several shots were aimed “a gendarmerie helicopter which was carrying out a reconnaissance flight over the site last night.but that neither the aircraft nor the crew were affected. An investigation is open.

The prefect of Gironde Étienne Guyot, who calls for calm, has banned all demonstrations in several municipalities in the Bordeaux metropolis. “The objective is not to allow a ZAD to be established”he said Friday.

Work has already started north of Toulouse, but the necessary authorization for railway developments south of Bordeaux (AFSB), prior to the LGV project itself expected in 2028, remains to be delivered by the end of November.