This Saturday, January 3, between 7 am and 9 am, more than a hundred tribes and CRS were in reinforcements to evict about fifty angry farmers installed with their tractors in front of the shopping center of the Leclerc store, Ska Oest in St. Etienne-de-Montluc. The Farmers’ Union, the Centers for the Promotion of Agriculture and the Rural Environment (CIVAM), the Group of Organic Farmers of Loire-Atlantic (GAB44) and non-organized farmers claimed the initiative of this blockade established for four days (evening on Monday 29 February). ) specifically to protest against the margin of mass distribution.
Since then, the people’s profile and demands at the root of the blockage have evolved, with increasingly significant participation of people with little connection to agrarian issues and without clearly articulated demands. In particular, the presence of people claiming to be part of the collective or Earth Rebellion was noted. This press release explains.
Remember that Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin ordered this mass disbandment, a pioneer of ecological protest in France, following demonstrations in Sainte-Saulin. A decision annulled by the Council of State last November. In Saint-Étienne-de-Montluc, the collective conducted interviews with farmers and presented their demands (tweet below):
Dialogue in spite of everything
Since the beginning of the blockade, the state recalls that it wants to maintain dialogue. A second meeting was held between the prefect and a group of Loire-Atlantic organic farmers on Thursday 1 February at the prefecture, as well as the next day with three trade union organizations to explain the government measures announced to them.
although, Due to disruption of public order and risks of shortage and loss of fresh produce, an evacuation of the site was carried out this Saturday, February 3. It is part of a public force competition, which was granted on February 2 by the Prefect of Loire-Atlantique in an application for an interim order issued by the Nantes Judicial Court on January 30.
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The complaint was filed by SCA West after an attempt to infiltrate the site on the night of January 29 to 30 was repelled by gendarmerie personnel, the prefecture reported. The unblocking of the site was carried out quietly. Yet one man rebelled and was arrested for contempt and rebellion
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