The Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve banned Friday’s demonstration in Albi. “I have instructed the prefect that this event is not permitted”, “given the serious risks that expose the protesters for their physical integrity” and “climate of violence,” he said at current issues of the government. Pro and anti-dam had announced rallies in Albi Friday morning.
Earlier, the minister called “solemnly for calm and responsibility of each” face that he described as a “situation of extreme tension” to Sivens where skirmishes erupted Wednesday pro-dam farmers and zadistes. “France remembers the dramatic consequences of the events of October 2014, which led to the tragic death of Rémi Fraisse. Nothing can justify new outbursts of violence could lead to new tragedies,” added Minister in a statement, referring to the death of young environmentalist killed Oct. 26 by a grenade gendarmes. Wednesday, pro-dam since Saturday farmers who maintain the blockade of the “zone defense” (Zad) introduced in October 2013 to Sivens have entered the construction site of the water reservoir where still live forty zadistes.
“Direct Confrontation”
Zadistes and pro-dam accused each assault, damage and intimidation. The prefecture has however assured that no “direct confrontation” had occurred but only “a few episodes of tension and some damage.” On Thursday, the situation was calm on the spot, was a journalist. But reinforcements were deployed, bringing “about 300″ the number of gendarmes around Sivens, according to the prefecture. “We are in the logic of appeasement and peace,” he does it the same source, denying information to the local press about an imminent evacuation.
“The National Gendarmerie positioned at various points of access to the site, the mobile forces needed to prevent clashes, which could be contained until then, “said the minister, affirming its determination to uphold the rule of law” with the strongest and combat all abuses and all violence. ” The first French farmers’ union, FNSEA, great defender of water storage project Sivens, also called Thursday “for calm and responsibility”, in the words of its president, Xavier Beulin, calling the situation of “explosive”.
Farmers fear the worst
“It’s not farmers to evacuate the area but in the public power every effort if the decision is positive tomorrow, “Friday, said Xavier Beulin, saying” fear the worst “on the eve of a debate in the General Council in Albi on alternative projects to the disputed water retention. Pro and anti-dam protests announced in Albi when discussing the General Council. The Testet Collective, a group of opponents of the reservoir, has meanwhile denounced “the extremist attitude of the FNSEA who wants to pursue a productivist agricultural model that no longer survives with public subsidies.”
“The Collective Testet requests the Government to end the blockade of the Zad and violence by FDSEA / JA (Young Farmers) against citizens who have shown the relevance of their fight in the public interest,” the group in a statement. The General Council of the Tarn to debate Friday, two other solutions to water retention originally envisaged, and buried by the Minister of Ecology Ségolène Royal. The Minister presented mid-January 2 alternatives: a Sivens “light” for a halved tank, or around 750,000 m3, or a set of four selected smaller one at Sivens and three others nearby.
The socialist president of the council, Thierry Carcenac has already expressed its preference for the former. But no option satisfies neither pro nor anti-dam: environmentalists call for “new studies” to prove that it is possible to use the deductions that already exist around and pro-dam require “at least” a retaining 1 million cubic meters.
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