Cars and motorhomes have already hit the road, the main tents or the canteen will be dismantled this Monday, October 31. Julien Le Guet, spokesperson for “Basin No Thanks“, took stock yesterday at the general meeting: “We’re going to go into more compact camp mode, we’re going to go to another pace. It will be possible to sleep here at least until Wednesday.”
The militant action against the project of an agricultural water reserve in Saint-Soline (Deux-Sèvres) takes root, a Zone to Defend (ZAD) could settle there. Something to change the daily lives of local residents.
>>Anti-basins demonstration in Sainte-Soline: who are the activists campaigning against the project?
The sequence of events remains unclear for the moment. Julien Legay intends to make the most of the field loaned to the anti-basins by a farmer. “We have the land until May 19, we intend to use it. ZAD, not ZAD? I know that’s the big question. We reserve the surprise for our government“, smiles the activist.
Gérald Darmanin has an idea. Above all, the Minister of the Interior does not want the situation to get bogged down. He mentioned a possible demolition of the watchtowers built on the private field. For their part, residents of the village of Sainte-Soline also hope for a return to normal. The weekend was complicated for Pierre: “We suffer a little from the event. We are a bit waiting for what will happen. We don’t know how the situation will evolve and that there is so much violence behind it is impressive.“
The demonstrators destroy part of the pipe that will serve the pumping network of the future basin of Sainte-Soline with pickaxes. Action still in progress. pic.twitter.com/TjP7DDraD0
— France Blue Poitou (@Bleu_Poitou) October 30, 2022
He says he is shocked by the images of the pipe cut yesterday at the grinder. A pipe in a field, supposed to supply the mega-basin in the future. Stéphanie hopes to never see the “Black Blocs” again, a few meters from her parents’ house. “We heard distant noises and in fact, they arrived very, very quickly. We even imagined that the demonstration was not going to pass here. They arrived there, all in black, all hooded. It was really very disturbing”, remembers the resident, who hopes that the movement will not tarnish the image of the town. “Sainte-Soline is a very beautiful village which deserves to be known for other reasons, with a beautiful pond, a magnificent 12th century church. I hope that peace will return very soon.“
The anti-#basins “disarmed” a pipe near the Sainte-Soline basin “which was to supply it” pic.twitter.com/akQbnHcEUX
— Lea Guedj (@Lea_Gdj1) October 30, 2022
Other residents fear the return of opponents in the coming weeks. “It’s set to last“, blows an anti-basin lady, but shaken by this very important mobilization. To contain the movement, more than a thousand gendarmes will remain on the spot, announced yesterday the Minister of the Interior.
Sainte-Soline: the apprehension of the inhabitants for the continuation of the events – Report by Willy Moreau
to listen