Organizers expect at least 10,000 people between Tuesday and next Sunday at the “Water Village”, located in Mele (Des-Sèvres), just a few kilometers from Saint-Salon, where the fierce clashes will take place in March 2023. opposed some protesters and policemen.
Around 200 elected officials from various political parties, including Deux-Sèvres environmental MP Delphine Button, gathered in Melle late in the day on Friday to express their “concern” about the “alleged and apparent intention” to implement it. out “acts of civil disobedience.
Agricultural unions have split
On July 19 and 20, organizers including the Bassines Non Merci collective, Uprisings of the Earth, Attac and the Solidaires union planned “occupations, blockades or disarmament” of the installations with the aim of “lifting the moratorium”. construction of “mega basins”. For Coralie Denouet, president of the Deux-Sèvres division DVD, the event “carries with it the seeds of the violence we experienced last year.”
Earlier in the day, the Deux-Sèvres prefecture “reminded” the organizers of the water village and the planned industrial action of their responsibilities “given the high risks they present”, stressing that it had launched “right now administrative. measures to support gendarmerie operations”. Agricultural unions showed their differences ahead of the event.
The Farmers’ Confederation, which is one of the organizers, calls on the state authorities to “work to finally have a dialogue” on the distribution of water, rather than “playing as arsonists or ominous birds”.
The rural coordination of Lot-et-Garonne, for its part, condemns “fundamentalist ecologists” and calls on farmers to “go to support and defend our fellow farmers” in Dos-Sèvres, ensuring that “farmers (…) will stand by. police”.