threatened with dissolution, “the Uprisings of the earth” denounce a “false motive”

They counterattack. Under the influence of a dissolution procedure, the group “Les Uprisings of the earth”, co-organizer of the demonstration against the artificial water retention of Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres) on March 25, denounced Friday 7 april “a will of the government to stifle the movements which oppose on an ecological level”. “This dissolution is a way of diverting attention (…) and of returning the responsibility of the government in the brutal repression of demonstrators in recent weeks, and in particular in Sainte-Soline”Benoît Feuillu, spokesman for the movement, told AFP before a meeting at the Interior Ministry in Paris to plead his case. “It only reveals the government’s continued support for the most climate-killing industries”the spokesperson added.

Minister Gérald Darmanin announced on March 28 the dissolution of the group, citing “the extreme violence of small groups on file by the intelligence services, sometimes for very many years, such as the de facto group ‘Earth uprisings'”. Activists denounce a “false reason”: “We would be a form of closed, so-called ultra-left group. It really shows a wrong vision of what this movement is: a broad, opposing, democratic and popular coalition of a set of local collectives, national organizations, NGOs, farms, union sections.”

The group went to Place Beauvau on Friday to “to tell the government that its claim to dissolve such an environmental movement seems absolutely fantastic”. A support petition launched by the group has collected more than 60,000 signatures, including those of several hundred personalities. “This ground swell cannot be dissolved”added Feuillu who intends to go “facing the Council of State to ask for interim measures”. The movement organizes on Wednesday April 12 a public meeting in Paris entitled “We are the Uprisings of the earth”. Personalities from the cultural, trade union and political world are expected to attend.