“Prevent access to the basin, whatever the human cost.” The day after the demonstration against the mega-basins of Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres), on March 26, the Human Rights League (LDH) denounced in a first summary the indiscriminate use of force against the participants, as well as obstructing the intervention of the emergency services for several very seriously injured people. But she had warned that the media and political time was not that of the scrupulous analysis of the facts and that her final report would put “several months” get out. It is now done. On more than 160 pagesthe LDH, which had sent 18 observers from five different teams to follow the mobilization which took place from March 24 to 26, confirms this first observation and traces the excesses in the maintenance of order, the use of force “disproportionate and indiscriminate”, as well as “lies” of the authorities surrounding this demonstration which notably led to the dissolution of the Uprisings of the Earth.
“The State is failing in its primary obligation which is to guarantee the right to demonstrate in safe conditions”, denounced the president of the LDH Patrick Baudouin this Monday, July 10 during a press conference, before letting the observers detail the content of their observations. Firstly, ahead of the demonstration banned by the prefecture, the authorities not only implemented intelligence techniques to monitor the demonstrators, increased checks (24,000 vehicles checked according to Gérald Darmanin), but also “disqualified” the movement by using a rhetoric on the violence of the demonstrators, already qualified “eco-terrorists” by the Minister of the Interior after a previous mobilization of these water reservoirs last fall.
“Creating an Opponent”
“We will see extremely harsh images, because there is a very large mobilization of the far left and of those who want to attack the gendarmes and perhaps kill gendarmes and kill institutions”, Gérald Darmanin had thus declared on March 24, even though the mobilization had not started. “It’s a way to disqualify the movement from the outset, to stigmatize and criminalize social movements, including environmental movements”, analyzes today Patrick Baudouin, who recalls that the LDH was also the object of attacks from the government the day after its positions on the demonstration.
“It’s not just a matter of vocabulary. The creation of an adversary announced and served as justification for the maintenance of order,” abounds Sarah Hunet-Ciclaire, lawyer and member of the LDH. “The political will was clear; the Sainte-Soline demonstration was not to take place, and anyone who defied the prefectural authorization exposed themselves to risks for their physical and moral integrity”, summarizes the League of Human Rights in its report.
The observers retraced the sequence of events minute by minute, throughout the duration of the March 25 demonstration, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. A detailed chronology – established through the analysis of photos, videos, precise mapping places and scenes, but above all a minute-by-minute entry of their observations – which makes it possible to demonstrate the “lies” authorities, whether during the speeches of Gérald Darmanin, or in the two reports of the General Inspectorate of the Gendarmerie (IGGN) and the prefecture of Deux-Sèvres published the day after the rally.
“It is the report of a counterpower at the service of democracy to denounce the falsification and the lies that may have been uttered”, summarizes the president of the LDH. Several specific cases have been analysed: the first clashes between demonstrators and gendarmes in quads, the shooting of LBDs by these same gendarmes, or even the care of the wounded and the shooting of the latter while elected officials were forming a human chain to protect them. The case of Serge D., whose vital prognosis has been initiated, is particularly detailed.
Basin defended in the manner of a “fort”
“Contrary to what the reports of the gendarmerie and the prefect of Deux-Sèvres suggest, the commitment of the force was indeed decided against the processions […] in the absence of any act of hostility on their part, and this without warning”, insists the LDH in the summary of his report. Two of the three processions were thus targeted by tear gas fire before even arriving at the site of the basin, without any previous “contact” having taken place between demonstrators and gendarmes, details the LDH. “Contrary to what the reports of the IGGN and the prefecture expose, our observations show a use of force that is neither necessary, nor proportionate and indiscriminate”, conclude the witnesses.
The basin is then described as defended in the manner of a “fort”, thanks to the alignment of gendarmes and trucks all around the site. While more than 5,000 grenades were fired by the security forces during the demonstration, observers point out that, contrary to the declarations of the Minister of the Interior, some of the weapons used by the gendarmes are indeed classified as weapons of war, and describe one of the scenes where “Almost every salvo of explosive grenades seen was followed by a call for ‘medics’ by protesters to tend to the injured”.
“We have never seen such strong firepower”, confirmed at a press conference one of the observers, François Lepineux, reporting the feeling “of amazement or even amazement” who seized the members of the LDH during the demonstration. “In general, the responsibility of the public authorities and in particular of the State is clearly engaged because of the absence of anticipation, then the choices not to provide assistance as soon as possible, or even to abstain”, concludes the LDH. And to be alarmed “official” communication [qui] constitutes an alarming re-writing of events”.