Supposed to fight against attacks on the agricultural world, it is accused by environmental associations of wanting to gag any criticism of intensive agriculture. The Ministers of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, and of Agriculture, Julien Denormandie, do not wish to see the missions of the Gendarmerie Demeter cell. They announced in a press release on Monday that they had appealed the decision of the Paris administrative court.
Justice had estimated on January 31 that the prevention of “actions of an ideological nature” led by Demeter was not based on “no legal basis” and had asked the government to put an end to these activities within two months under pain of a fine of 10,000 euros per day.
“Very good results”
In their press release on Monday, the two ministers insist on “the significance” of the unit created in 2019 and welcome its “very good results”citing the drop in “8%” from “vehicle theft on farms in 2021” and the decline of “7%” damage “compared to 2020”.
Ministers also underline the “contribution of the gendarmerie to the intelligence mission, with a view to preventing attacks and violent actions against farms and farmers“.
Prevent “actions of an ideological nature”
The Demeter cell, named after the Greek goddess of the harvest, was created within the national gendarmerie as part of an agreement with the majority agricultural union FNSEA and its branch of Young Farmers (JA). Its purpose is to fight against villainous or criminal acts (theft of diesel, tractors, damage) but also to prevent “actions of an ideological nature”, ranging from “simple symbolic actions of denigration” at “hard actions”according to the presentation document of the Ministry of the Interior.
It was this last aspect in particular that was attacked by environmental and anti-speciesist associations, including L214: the NGOs denounced “bullying” and of “serious violations of freedom of expression”. After the decision of the administrative court, the government said “to take note” of the end of certain Demeter activities and announced that its mission in the fight against agricultural crime would be “specified and framed in a new text of internal organization”.