Published
Article written by
Saturday, October 29, in Deux-Sèvres, several thousand demonstrators expressed their dissatisfaction with the construction site of a “mega-basin”, a water reservoir intended for agriculture. The face-to-face was sometimes tense with the police.
Hundreds of demonstrators entered the site of a future water reservoir in Deux-Sèvres on Saturday, October 29. The project provides for a “mega-basin” of several hectares intended to irrigate the fields of 12 farmers during periods of drought. The gathering had however been banned by the prefecture. Around 1,500 gendarmes and six helicopters patrolled the area. The security forces tried to block the demonstrators, and clashes broke out.
Tear gas jets, disencirclement grenades and LBD fire were used. For its part, the prefecture denounced the firing of mortars and Molotov cocktails towards the police. Artificial lakes that pump water from the groundwater during the winter are at the heart of the conflict. An outdated model of agriculture for Europe Écologie-Les Verts (EELV). “We monopolize the basins for intensive agriculture”deplores Sandrine Rousseau, EELV MP. The organizers intend to continue the mobilizations until the total abandonment of the project.
News topics
About news
all the news in video
Get the essentials
of our news
with our newsletter
articles on the same topic
Seen from Europe
Franceinfo selects daily content from European public audiovisual media, members of Eurovision. These contents are published in English or French.