French protestors, police engage in conflict over agricultural water supplies
Date
10/30/2022 6:33:39 AM
(MENAFN) Despite a formal ban, thousands of French activists demonstrated on Saturday against the construction of large water reservoirs for agricultural use in the country's west, leading to skirmishes with Police and scores of injuries.
In the commune of Sainte-Soline in the Deux-Sevres department, more than 7,000 people gathered to oppose the construction of water "megabasins’," according to the activist group Bassines Non Merci, and some of them were able to infiltrate the construction site.
They disobeyed a directive issued by the department's prefect Emmanuelle Dubee on Friday, who claimed that about 1,500 police officers would make every effort to disperse the demonstrators. She attempted to defend the action by stating that such protests had historically been violent, and that people may "attack the police" and "degrade part of the agricultural facilities that were on their way."
Conflicts between protestors and law enforcement developed as a consequence. Gerald Darmanin, the interior minister, reported that 61 cops were hurt, 22 of them critically. He also mentioned that “this figure shows that it was not a peaceful demonstration, but a very violent rally.”
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