The climate activists who had occupied the Bois de Ballens (VD) for ten days left the place on Tuesday evening. Under an evacuation order from the Morges district prefecture, they left before the police dislodged them.
According to the Grondements des terres movement, at the origin of the occupation, around thirty activists were still present at the time of departure. Several residents of the region helped them evacuate the camp as the storm raged Tuesday evening.
The activists say they are “still in the region” and are considering the continuation of their mobilization to continue to oppose the gravel pit project in Ballens or for other actions. “We receive a lot of proposals,” they say, without giving further details.
Alliance with the local population
At the end of their occupation in Ballens, they denounced the attitude of the authorities, “closed to discussion”, as well as the “police pressure”. On the other hand, activists welcome “the magnificent and important support” of the inhabitants of the region and the birth of “an alliance with the local population”. They recall in particular that around twenty people founded the association “For the Safeguarding of the Woods of Ballens and surrounding areas.”
The occupation, which began on June 15, aimed to denounce “the hegemony of concrete in construction” and criticize the “extractive and ecocidal ambitions” of major cement manufacturers in the Bois de Ballens, where a major gravel pit is planned.
This new occupation in the canton of Vaud was intended to be a legacy of the ZAD of the Mormont hill (2020-2021) and the occupation, last year, of the Moulin d’Amour forest in Vufflens-la -City.
ats/jop
