“It was not a peaceful rally, it was very violent“, laments Sunday, October 30 on franceinfo the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau. According to the prefecture, “61 gendarmes were injured, 22 of them seriously“, during the demonstration “anti-basins“, organized yesterday in Sainte-Soline in Deux-Sèvres. The organizers indicate that about thirty demonstrators were injured.
>>Agricultural basins: why are these water reserves criticized by ecologists and farmers?
Marc Fesneau”think of the cops“. The forces of order received “mortar fire, Molotov cocktails and throwing of various projectiles“, according to the prefect of the department Emmanuelle Dubée. She denounces the presence of “400 very violent black-block and activist profiles“. The Minister of Agriculture “differentiate between violent and non-violent“but he points”the responsibility“Organizers:”When you hold a demonstration when it is banned, you give the opportunity to the violent to infiltrate the demonstration and commit acts of violence.“The minister again denounces the maintenance”of a prohibited demonstration on a project which is authorized to him“.
Mortar fire. These are the methods of these “militants”. There is nothing to try to understand when violence is a mode of action. With immense risks for our internal security forces that I want to salute once again this evening. @Gendarmerie @GDarmanin https://t.co/1zIup3Wphn
— Marc Fesneau (@MFesneau) October 29, 2022
The demonstration “anti-basins“, at the call of the collective “Basins no thank you“, gathered 4,000 demonstrators according to the prefecture, 7,000 according to the organizers.”All these people who come at the weekend to occupy sites without knowing the reality of the agricultural world, it’s nice – in reality not that much since there are acts of violence – but it’s disconnected from reality“, judges the Minister of Agriculture. Because on the merits, Marc Fesneau considers that the basin projects “are a plus and an improvement compared to the current situation or the situation of 10 years ago and that is what must be defended because without water, there is no agriculture“.
“It is in the general interest to avoid pumping in the groundwater in spring and summer with, moreover, commitments from farmers on the reduction of water withdrawal”
Marc Fesneau, Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereigntyat franceinfo
The “anti-basins“they argue that the construction of these giant water reserves is not neutral for the environment, that these installations prevent the water tables from filling up in winter and that these projects only encourage water-intensive agriculture They call for a change in farming practices.”Yes, but what do we offer?“, asks the Minister of Agriculture. “We must build alternatives but it is not in 24 months or 12 months that it is built.“Marc Fesneau believes that it is necessary to engage”a double movement: a movement to capture water when it is too full in autumn and winter. Then, a movement to change practices. But it’s not one without the other“.