hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Puy-de-Dôme

More than a year after the violent demonstration in Sainte-Soline against megabasins, opponents of reserve projects for agricultural irrigation are back in Puy-de-Dôme, this Saturday, May 11. This time, the demonstrators are leading a festive hike to demand a moratorium on these agricultural water reservoirs.

Against megabasins, the fight continues. Thousands of people met at Chignat station near Vertaizon around 9:30 a.m. for a “Rand’eau”. In other words, a traveling march against the mega-basins planned in Puy-de-Dôme. The atmosphere is festive but they are there to express their opposition to projects to create giant water reservoirs in the Limagne plain. The demonstrators will set off for around 8 km of walking towards Bouzel, one of the two towns where a mega-basin could see the light of day. A long procession made up of activists from the Bassines Non Merci 63 collective, at the origin of this demonstration, from the Peasant Confederation 63, from the Earth Uprisings and from Extinction Rébellion 63 who had given their support to the protest movement.

The day before, at the opening of the weekend of mobilization against megabasins in Puy-de-Dôme, around a hundred people had already gathered to sow “population” corn on a farmer’s plot. Objective: to show that it is possible to produce corn that uses little water and “therefore without requiring the construction of megabasins”.

In parallel with this hike, a bicycle convoy has also been planned in Clermont-Ferrand from Place de Jaude to reach Chignat station, the rallying point for the demonstrators. Just before the start of the hike, the spokespersons of the different collectives and associations reiterated their demands during a press conference: “We are here to show our determination in the face of these projects. We are here to say that we absolutely do not want the work to begin”reminds a representative of the Bassines Non Merci 63 collective into the microphone. A representative of the environmental movement Extinction Rébellion 63 adds: “If we are here, it is to fight against land grabbing, against the artificialization of land and above all for peasant agriculture and the protection of living things”.

Banners are displayed in the procession where we see the following sentence written: “No to basins!”

As a reminder, the Puy-de-Dôme prefecture did not prohibit this demonstration, however it did not authorize its passage on the territory of Clermont-Ferrand and on the north-eastern part of the department delimited by the A71 and A89, where most of the Limagrain installations are located.