The Deux-Sèvres prefecture wants to ban demonstrations against water reservoirs for agricultural use, called “basins” by opponents, announced for March 25 in the department, according to a press release released on Friday.
The prefect Emmanuelle Dubée says she has notified “her intention” to ban the demonstrations to the organizers: the Bassines Non Merci collective, the Earth Uprisings movement and the Confédération paysanne union.
“Tens of thousands of people” expected
After a demonstration of several thousand people in Sainte-Soline at the end of October, the opponents had announced a new rally in the spring. They specified Thursday evening that a demonstration would take place on Saturday March 25 in the morning “in Sainte-Soline”, where a reservoir is under construction, “and/or Mauzé-sur-le-Mignon”, where a reserve is already operating, in calling “as many people as possible” to converge on Deux-Sèvres and “not to be discouraged by any prefectural bans”.
“The arrests and checks have not prevented previous demonstrations from taking place and becoming more massive each time,” said the Earth Uprisings movement on Twitter, which says it expects “(tens) of thousands of people”.
“Disorders of public order” according to the prefecture
The prefecture justifies “its desire to ban” the demonstrations “by the history of serious disturbances to public order observed during previous demonstrations having led to violent acts against the police and acts of sabotage on agricultural installations”.
The first demonstrations took place in the department in the fall of 2021, then in the spring of 2022, before that of the end of October, for which the authorities had mobilized some 1,500 gendarmes to protect the Sainte-Soline site. This rally gave rise to clashes between police and demonstrators. Five of them were prosecuted for “participation in a group formed with a view to preparing violence” and sentenced to suspended prison sentences of two to three months.