Dozens of activists “for the protection of living things” began the occupation of the Bois de Ballens in the canton of Vaud on Saturday. They demand a decree from the Council of State to protect the site as well as the adoption of a moratorium on the opening of new quarries.
Numbering around fifty on Saturday afternoon according to a count by Keystone-ATS, the activists set up tents and a few platforms in the trees. While they are still waiting for sympathizers, their objective is to say “no to a new hole in the foot of the Vaudois Jura” according to the press release published by the organizers of the Grondements des terres movement.
“For years, the giants Holcim and Orlatti have been fighting over this wood. For good reason, under this forest, and the ecosystems it shelters, lies the largest deposit of sand and gravel in the canton, i.e. 18.5 million m3”, he notes.
Between the extraction of raw materials and the future burial of excavation waste, the approximate total gain should be around “a billion francs”, which will go into the pockets of these big companies.
The occupation aims to denounce the “extractivist and ecocidal intentions” of the large cement manufacturers on this site. Its aim is also to raise media and citizen attention, said a spokesperson.
Its duration is not defined, but it is intended to be in the legacy of the ZAD of the hill (Mormont hill, Eclépens/La Sarraz) and the second expertise of the Moulin d’Amour (Vufflens-la-Ville) . On Sunday, a discussion on access to land is planned with the Uniterre organization.
Independent Observatory
“It is high time to pull the emergency brakes on the destructive and polluting concrete industry,” believes the movement. He also said he was disappointed with the counter-project to the Mormont initiative presented on June 13 by the Council of State. No ambitious and realistic measures are planned to reduce this material, he emphasizes.
Grondement des terres asks the Canton for the creation of an independent observatory of land grabbing by cement manufacturers and a decree demanding an end to work on Mormont Hill.
Last year, the movement was the cause of depredations on several golf courses. He also settled for a few weeks in a forest on the banks of the Venoge, in the town of Vufflens-la-Ville (VD) to denounce the potential use of the site as a gravel deposit by the Orllati company.
This article was automatically published. Source: ats
