Thousands of people demonstrated in La Rochelle, brief clashes with police

They wanted to denounce the major players in the cereal industry, associated with the construction of contested water reserves and a “grab” of water by the agro-industry.

The second demonstration against the basins, Saturday July 20, was more tense than the one organized the day before, in Vienne. As part of the mobilization against the basins, up to 10,000 people, according to the organizers, participated in a demonstration in La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime), the prefect of Charente-Maritime, Brice Blondel, reporting 5,000 demonstrators to France Bleu. They wanted to denounce the major players in the cereal industry, associated with the construction of the disputed water reserves and a “grabbing” water by agro-industry.

The authorities had once again warned of clashes due to the presence of “several hundred radical individuals” and deployed a very large security presence. Early in the morning, around 200 demonstrators foiled him by sneaking into the agro-industrial terminal of the port of La Pallice from the Île-de-Ré bridge, and were then peacefully removed by the police. But the commercial port remained the target of the two processions that set off early in the afternoon from the city centre, one calm and family-oriented, the other more determined.

At around 1:30 p.m., police charged at the rear of this second procession, firing tear gas grenades and baton blows, after damage to bus shelters and shops in particular. “We respected the fact of not intruding on the site [du port de commerce]. That was what they feared, but that was the deal. And the deal was broken.”deplores Juliette Rivière, spokesperson for the environmental movement Soulèvements de la Terre, one of the organizers. The breakup of the procession was accompanied by brief clashes between demonstrators and the police, with barricades, burning trash cans, vandalism, throwing projectiles and tear gas grenades. According to a report from the La Rochelle prosecutor’s office, four members of the police were injured and five demonstrators, all slightly. Seven people were arrested, mainly for trespassing.

The other procession had gone along the seaside to approach the port of La Pallice on foot, some in kayaks. The two met up around 3pm, with the organisers then deciding to turn back to the town centre, with a few more scuffles on the way back, before the last participants went for a swim around 4.30pm.