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PROTESTS

IN PICTURES: Clashes as thousands protest French agro-industry water ‘grab’

Thousands of demonstrators defied an official ban to march on Saturday against the deployment of new water storage infrastructure for agricultural irrigation in western France, some clashing with police.

Protesters hold a banner reading
Protesters hold a banner reading "We are not defending water, We are the water defending itself" during a demonstration against a giant water retention basin project in Sainte-Soline, western France, on October 30, 2022.  (Photo: Pascal Lachenaud / AFP)

Clashes between paramilitary gendarmes and demonstrators erupted with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin reporting that 61 officers had been hurt, 22 seriously.

“Bassines Non Merci”, which organised the protest, said around 30 demonstrators had been injured. Of them, 10 had to seek medical treatment and three were hospitalised.

Protesters march from a gathering site during the demonstration against the giant water retention basin project on October 30, 2022. (Photo by Pascal Lachenaud / AFP)

The pressure group brings together environmental associations, trade unions and anti-capitalist groups against what it claims is a “water grab” by the “agro-industry” in western France.

Local officials said six people were arrested during the protest and that 4,000 people had turned up for the banned demonstration. Organisers put the turnout at 7,000.

The deployment of giant water “basins” is underway in the village of Sainte-Soline, in the Deux-Sevres department, to irrigate crops, which opponents claim distorts access to water amid drought conditions.

Around 1,500 police were deployed, according to the prefect of the Deux-Sevres department Emmanuelle Dubee.

Protesters dismantle an outdoor water pipe during the demo. (Photo by Pascal Lachenaud / AFP)
 
Dubee said on Friday she had wanted to limit possible “acts of violence”, referring to the clashes between demonstrators and security forces that marred a previous rally in March.

The Sainte-Soline water reserve is the second of 16 such installations, part of a project developed by a group of 400 farmers organised in a water cooperative to significantly reduce mains water usage in summer.

Protesters hold a banner reading “Agro-industry cooperatives are attempting to help themselves to water” during the protest. (Photo by Pascal Lachenaud / AFP) 

The open-air craters, covered with a plastic tarpaulin, are filled by pumping water from surface groundwater in winter and can store up to 650,000 square metres of water.

This water is used for irrigation in summer, when rainfall is scarcer.

Opponents claim the “megabasins” are wrongly reserved for large export-oriented grain farms and deprive the community of access to the essential resource.

 
 

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NEW CALEDONIA

New Caledonia independence activists sent to France for detention

Seven independence activists linked to a group accused of orchestrating deadly riots last month in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia have been sent to mainland France for pre-trial detention, a local prosecutor said Sunday.

New Caledonia independence activists sent to France for detention

“This transfer was organised during the night by means of a plane specially chartered for the mission,” Yves Dupas, the public prosecutor in the territory’s capital Noumea, said in a statement.

The seven were sent to mainland France, he added, “due to the sensitivity of the procedure and in order to allow the investigations to continue in a calm manner, free of any pressure”.

Among the seven detainees was Christian Tein, head of the pro-independence group CCAT, who was charged Saturday over the recent violence in which nine people died, including two police.

Hundreds more were wounded, and around 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) of damage was inflicted during the unrest over controversial voting reforms.

Authorities did not immediately specify what charges Tein faces.

His lawyer Pierre Ortent said Saturday he was “stupefied” that his client was being sent to France, accusing magistrates of “answering to purely political considerations”.

Riots, street barricades and looting broke out in New Caledonia in May over an electoral reform that would have allowed long-term residents to participate in local polls.

The archipelago’s Indigenous Kanaks feared the move would dilute their vote, putting hopes for eventually winning independence definitively out of reach.

France’s government repeatedly accused Tein’s CCAT of orchestrating the violence, a charge the organisation has denied.

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