Dragnet in the ranks of environmental activists. Fourteen people were taken into custody on Tuesday (June 20th) in the investigation into the action carried out in 2022 against a Lafarge cement plant in Provence by environmental activists, at a time when the government confirms the dissolution of the movement The Earth Uprisings, scheduled for Wednesday.

These arrests were made in Loire-Atlantique and in particular in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, where various environmental activists have taken refuge in the former ZAD (zone to defend), according to the Aix-en-Provence prosecutor's office, but also "in the Marseille region", according to a source close to the case.

New wave of arrests throughout the France, on the eve of the decree dissolving the Earth Uprisings.

We denounce a new communication operation to try to silence a popular movement.

➡️ Press release on the website: https://t.co/wcrKajwNjG pic.twitter.com/ndTeDoAIsN

— Earth Uprisings (@lessoulevements) June 20, 2023

"Degradation in an organized gang"

Those arrested are suspected of "degradation in organized gang by dangerous means", "degradation in meeting" and "criminal association", explained the prosecutor's office to AFP.

However, he did not want to specify the identity or profile of the people arrested, all but one of whom are currently in custody in Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine).

These arrests, carried out by police officers of the Anti-Terrorist Sub-Directorate (Sdat), in connection with the research section of the gendarmerie, follow others carried out at the beginning of the month during which about fifteen people were arrested as part of this investigation conducted by two investigating judges.

All these people had however been "released at the end of their hearing" and without judicial follow-up, told AFP the prosecutor's office of Aix-en-Provence.

Last December, dozens of climate activists targeted a cement plant located in Bouc-Bel-Air (Bouches-du-Rhône) of the Lafarge group, accused of being a big "polluter" at the global level, causing significant damage.

"Who are the turkeys of the Farge?"

In a video of this operation, posted at the time on several sites, dozens of people dressed in white hooded jumpsuits could be seen walking on a path. On other levels, activists dressed in the same suits attacked a surveillance camera with hammers or a hose with hatchets.

A graffiti "Who are the turkeys of the Farge?" had been bombed on a wall.

An anonymous text accompanying this video had claimed the action against the "cement-polluter" specifying that it had been carried out by "200 people (who) invaded and disarmed by surprise the Lafarge factory of the Malle in Bouc-Bel-Air".

The informal movement the Earth Uprisings (SLT) had welcomed this action "against the ecocidal giant of concrete" without claiming it.

"We have decided to relay now this statement, the video (...), hoping that this determined action and which calls for others, finds the echo that is due to it," could be read on their website.

On the other hand, the prosecutor's office of Aix-en-Provence did not want to establish a link between these arrests and The Uprisings of the Earth, in the sights of the government which could pronounce its dissolution Wednesday in the Council of Ministers.

Perhaps at the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, perhaps at that of "next week" but in any case the dissolution will be pronounced "as soon as possible," said government spokesman Véran on the set of CNews television.

"Ecoterrorism" in question

In October, during a first demonstration against the "mega-basins" in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres), the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin had castigated the "ecoterrorism" of the perpetrators of violence by pointing the finger at this group, presented as belonging to the movement of the ultra-left.

SLT is a "de facto" group, that is to say not formally declared as an association with the public authorities, born in January 2021 in the former ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes and became one of the main actors of the "radical" ecological protest. It claims actions of occupation or sometimes sabotage in the name of defending the environment.

Since last autumn in Sainte-Soline, the collective has multiplied actions: in March once again in the Deux-Sèvres, in May in Rouen against a motorway bypass of the city, in Saint-Colomban (Loire-Atlantique) on June 11 against the exploitation of sand, and last weekend against the Lyon/Turin rail link.

The activists of the Earth Uprisings are "repressed as terrorists that they are not," denounced Tuesday on Twitter Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La France insoumise.

With AFP

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