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1:48 p.m. : Two gendarmerie vehicles are on fire in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres), where clashes broke out between demonstrators and the police, reports France 3 Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
(ANTOINE MOREL / FRANCE 3 POITU-CHARENTES)
1:19 p.m. : Tear gas canisters are fired, some demonstrators are trying to bury them. The fireworks also fuse. #megabasins https://t.co/yoO0EgkKvn
1:18 p.m. : Basins: law enforcement tries to keep protesters away from the reserve with tear gas and water cannon #SainteSoline https://t.co/1h7aCidYwH
1:18 p.m. : At the foot of the mega basins in Ste Soline (2 Sevres), the gendarmes use tear gas to block a “hostile crowd” in the words of the prefect. Several processions of thousands of demonstrators converge https://t.co/ipxUFtieis
1:17 p.m. : Clashes between demonstrators and police broke out in Sainte-Soline, in Deux-Sèvres, report several journalists on Twitter. Several thousand people gathered to protest against the disputed water reserve project, despite a ban on demonstrations.
12:41 p.m. : Up to 10,000 demonstrators, including a thousand“ultras”are expected today in Sainte-Soline, in Deux-Sèvres. “If it goes on like this again, I’ll stop”, confides a farmer, tired of the tensions on this “mega-basin” site. At the end of October, clashes erupted during a rally on this site.
(THIBAUD MORITZ / AFP)
11:37 : A first procession of anti-basin demonstrators is on its way and is heading towards the Sainte-Soline construction site, in Deux-Sèvres, reports France Bleu Poitou. It is planned to train “a human chain” and of “dismantle the networks”according to the organizers of the mobilization.
11:11 a.m. : “[Ces ultras] are people experienced in the exercises of demonstrations classified rather on the far left and who do, indeed, act of violence.
10:58 : According to Marc Fesneau, “machetes and axes” were seized prior to the rally. The Minister clarified that “ultras” from “from Switzerland, Italy, Germany or Belgium” are expected in Deux-Sèvres.
10:57 : The Minister of Agriculture launched, this morning on France Inter, a “message of responsibility and appeasement” towards the activists against the “mega-basins” expected today in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres). He recalled that the demonstrations had been banned by the prefecture, which feared violence.
09:22 : In the opposite camp, Thierry Boudaud, president of the Coop de l’eau, does not hide his concern. “We call for calm more than ever”he confides to franceinfo, worried about a demonstration “more and more announced as a desire to have a trophy, to make symbols, to degrade a water reservoir”. Find our full article here.
09:21 : “I said it to the Minister of Agriculture. The more they ban, the less possibilities they give us to make this struggle visible, the more they will strain the local context and lead to violence.”
The organizers of the event deplore the decision of the prefecture to ban the gathering, believing that this should only increase the risk of violence.
09:22 : Despite the ban on demonstrations, opponents of the agricultural “mega-basin” project are mobilizing to demand the suspension of work and the reopening of a dialogue. We explain to you how they want to put the pressure back on.
(PASCAL LACHENAUD / AFP)
11:24 : A demonstration under close surveillance. More than 3,000 members of the police are mobilized to supervise a mobilization against “mega-basins” in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres), this weekend. Up to 10,000 people are expected on site. “About 1,500 radical activists” could mingle with the demonstrators, according to the prefecture.