Thousands of opponents of “mega-basins”, these giant water reserves dedicated to agricultural irrigation, marched on Saturday in La Rochénard (Deux-Sèvres), during a mobilization punctuated by sporadic clashes with the forces of order, without causing injury.
This demonstration called “Spring maraîchin”, scheduled to last until Sunday, brought together in the afternoon between 5,000, according to the final report of the prefecture, and 7,000 people, according to the Collectif Bassines Non Merci and the Confédération paysanne, the spearheads of the mobilization.
Stone and mortar throwing fireworks
In a press release, the organizers welcomed “the unprecedented scale and determination of this new gathering” and called for “several months of intense mobilization against the mega-basins as long as these projects are not stopped”.
On the sidelines of the procession, clashes in the afternoon opposed some demonstrators with the police for an hour, with exchanges of stone throwing, firework mortars, and tear gas and de-encirclement grenades.
Unearthed pipes
Shortly before, some demonstrators had just dug up pipe elements with shovels and pickaxes, “intended to be connected to the network of future basins”, according to the Uprisings of the Earth, co-organizer of the mobilization.
No injuries were to be deplored and there were no arrests during the demonstration according to the prefecture which “strongly condemns the damage to agricultural installations”.
Request for a moratorium on mega-basin projects
Also supported by the LPO, EELV, Attac, or even La France Insoumise, the demonstrators denounce “the monopolization of water by the agro-industry”, “demand the stoppage of work” and “the establishment of ‘a moratorium on mega-basin projects’.
“Water is common, let’s share it”, “Recharge groundwater before storing water”, could we read on the banners brandished in a crowd made up of young adults and retirees, families, associative activists and unions, as well as people who came in overalls or hooded.
Edged weapons seized
A very important gendarmerie system had been put in place, the authorities fearing overflows that had already occurred during previous demonstrations. Two helicopters hovered over the gathering at low altitude throughout the day, and many vans and squadrons of gendarmerie had been placed in the surrounding fields.
Several bladed weapons, including large knives and fireworks mortars, were seized during preventive searches in the morning, according to the prefecture which, like that of Charente-Maritime, had prohibited demonstrations within a perimeter of about ten km. in neighboring municipalities.
Demonstration in defense of farmers
To respond to the “anti-basins”, around 200 farmers also gathered in Cramchaban (Charente-Maritime), a few km away, at the call of the Rural Coordination, for a “defense rally” near a reservoir. degraded during a previous event. A small number planned to stay there “under surveillance” until Sunday afternoon.
The “basins”, excavations covered with a plasticized membrane, must be supplied by watercourses and groundwater in winter to be used in summer by farmers who irrigate when the resource is lacking.
But in recent years, opposition to these projects has crystallized in the Deux-Sèvres, particularly in Mauzé-sur-le-Mignon where the first of the sixteen reservoirs planned for the Sèvre Niortaise basin, crucial for food from the Marais poitevin.