A “festive and determined hike in defense of water” is planned at the call of environmental groups on Saturday May 11 to the south of Clermont-Ferrand where two water retention basins must be built.
From megabasins to gigabasins. A demonstration is planned for Saturday May 11 to the southeast of Clermont-Ferrand, in Puy-de-Dôme, against the project to build two “gigabasins” in the region. The prefecture announced reinforced security measures on Wednesday.
A “festive hike in defense of water”
Several decrees were adopted to regulate the “festive and determined hike in defense of water” planned by an activist collective.
The Bassines non merci 63 collective, Extinction Rébellion, the Faucheur.ses volunteers, the Peasant Confederation and the Earth Uprisings are expecting “a few thousand” participants. The prefecture between 2 and 3,000.
This mobilization must take place more than a year after the mobilization against the megabasins of Sainte-Soline, in Deux-Sèvres, which led to violent clashes with the police.
“Reinforced” gendarmerie resources
The prefecture has authorized “the entire perimeter” in which the organizers wish to march, around the municipalities of Chignat, Bouzel and Billom, declared prefect Joël Mathurin during a press briefing.
On the other hand, it prohibits, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. “any gathering in the territory of Clermont-Ferrand and in the north-eastern part of the Puy-de-Dôme department delimited by the A71 and A89 motorways”.
The “resources of the gendarmerie group” will also be reinforced “taking into account the possible presence of radical protest movements likely to lead to serious disturbances to public order and damage”, according to a press release. The use of drones equipped with cameras is authorized by the prefect during the gathering, reports La Montagne.
The “port and transport, without legitimate reason, of weapons of all categories”, of “munitions and objects which may constitute a weapon by destination”, or of “all flammable, chemical or explosive products” are also prohibited by arrested; in effect until Sunday noon. Traffic restrictions are also in force according to France Bleu.
Two basins intended to irrigate 800 ha
At the heart of the debate: the construction of two water reserves, one of 14 hectares, the other of 18 hectares, intended to irrigate 800 hectares with 36 agricultural farms in the Limagne plain, where Limagrain, 4th is located global seed company.
This represents “the equivalent of 500 Olympic pools” and “that’s why we no longer talk about mega pools but gigabassins,” explains Isabelle, member of Extinction Rébellion and spokesperson for the organizing collective, to Agence France-Presse. of the protest march.
These projects have not yet been the subject of a formal request for authorization, but its opponents wish to obtain a moratorium. The objective is to “act before the work begins”, explains Maud, from the Bassines non merci 63 collective.
Tondelier and Panot expected on site
The national secretary of the Ecologists Marine Tondelier announced her presence. “Megabasins constitute a privatization of our most precious common good, by a minority. Building megabasins is ignoring the basic problem: the scarcity of water,” she noted in a press release. LFI deputies, including Mathilde Panot, are also expected on site.
According to opponents of the project, Limagrain, an agricultural cooperative and international seed group owned by French farmers, “is pushing this project in the interest of securing its production of seed corn intended for export, all financed 70% by ‘public money’.
“This project is not supported by Limagrain” which, however, “supports” it to “develop the means of production and promote the production of (its) members”, assures the cooperative for its part.
“All this is regulatory and supervised by the State,” assures AFP Philippe Planche, one of the 36 operators carrying out the project. “My objective is both to secure the feed of my cows and to limit my corn area to replace it with specialized crops such as garlic”.
Water withdrawals intended for irrigation more than doubled between 2010 and 2020 in France, reaching 3.42 billion m3 in 2020, according to a report from the regional chamber of the Court of Auditors of Nouvelle-Aquitaine published in July 2023.
Juliette Desmonceaux with AFP
