They wish 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.
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The second day of mobilization became tense on Saturday July 20 in La Rochelle. Several thousand demonstrators, including “several hundred radical individuals”are heading towards the seaport of La Rochelle, briefly occupied in the morning, as part of the mobilization against the “bassines”. They wish to denounce the major players in the cereal industry, associated with the construction of the contested water reserves and a “grabbing” water by agro-industry. According to the organizers, including the environmental movement Les Soulèvements de la Terre, more than 6,000 people are present, the prefecture having reported 3,500 people, reports France 3.
“There are risks of clashes and damage to property”warned the Charente-Maritime prefecture, the day after a first demonstration aborted peacefully in Vienne. Shortly before 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, the large number of gendarmes mobilized briefly charged at the back of one of the two processions, firing tear gas grenades and baton blows, after damage had been caused to bus shelters, an insurance agency and a supermarket in particular.
According to the La Rochelle prosecutor’s office, six people were taken into custody. An initial report from the same source reported, around 2 p.m., that a policewoman was injured by burns and five protesters were slightly injured. A second procession of protesters followed the coast from the city center to approach on foot, some in kayaks or inflatable canoes, the agro-industrial terminal of the port of La Pallice, the target of the organizers.
