a market gardener from Marne arrested during a demonstration in Paris, “we are considered terrorists”

Jonathan Bouton is a market gardener in Val-de-Vesle (Marne). Activist of the Peasant Confederation, he demonstrated in front of the Grand Palais, in Paris, on Thursday December 5, 2024, and was subsequently arrested by the police with four of his colleagues. His police custody was extended.

An arrest which angers an already heated profession. The Confédération paysanne, the second largest French agricultural union (but far behind the powerful National Federation of Farmers' Unions, FNSEA), is on the rise after the arrest of five of its members.

It was Thursday, December 5, 2024, in front of the Grand Palais, in Paris. The European Stock Exchange was held there, a very important institution in grain trading, and decried by small farmers who claim to belong to the Peasant Confederation.

“Save the peasants, eat a trader”could we read on a huge yellow banner unfurled in front of the building. The demonstration ended under the charges of the police.

Among the five people arrested in Paris, we find Jonathan Bouton, market gardener within the Groupement agricole d'exploitation en commun (Gaec) of Jardins du Marais. It is located in Val-de-Vesle, a small town located in the agglomeration of Reims, between Prunay, Prosne, and Verzenay.

Christophe Van Hoorne, farmer and breeder in Tréfors (Marne), is national secretary and departmental spokesperson for the Peasant Confederation. He expressed his disgust to France 3 Champagne-Ardenne. “At the end of the demonstration, we explained that we were going to leave quietly.”

“And in fact, they sent us the gendarmerie, the police, the CRS, the Brav-M.” That is to say the Brigade for the Repression of Motorized Violent Action, already called into question during demonstrations against pension reform. One might think it was reserved for riots, which did not seem to be the case here…

Extended custody

“They killed us. There were still around a hundred of us. Then they crashed into us to recover five of our colleagues, including the one from Marne… We have just learned that his police custody has been extended by 24 hours.” Extensions of 24 hours of police custody are permitted, under common law, for offenses punishable by one year of imprisonment. Which may come as a surprise here.

But Christophe Van Hoorne is absolutely not surprised. “For the [Confédération paysanne]it is not so rare that we are treated differently from the FNSEA or the Rural Coordination.” The two other union heavyweights in the sector, considered closer to the right, the agri-food industry, and strong protests on the demonstration ground.

“It’s always the same.” The union leader denounces an unbearable “double standards. We are considered terrorists, and they charge us.”

This dates back to the demonstrations against the mega-basins of Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres). The then Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, described the opponents as“eco-terrorists”a questionable and contested term. “Since we have been kept in this logic“, despite the denials of the Peasant Confederation, “It's the same thing every time.”.

Whereas, however, assures Christophe Van Hoorne, “We never damage the country's property. We don't throw manure, nothing, on public property like others can do.” We can cite the gates of the Aube prefecture, the Place Royale in Reims, or even the offices of parliamentarians. Not to mention the consequences of signposts stolen from municipal entrances.

They come and burn tires in front of the prefectures, and we say nothing to them.

Christophe Van Hoorne, departmental spokesperson for the Peasant Confederation

Angry, he doesn't mince his words. “On the other hand, as soon as we attack private interests, which other unions don't do, they send the police to us. As soon as we attack billionaires, that's the case. It's like that's what's happening.” He recalls that the FNSEA walled up the premises of the French Biodiversity Office (OFB) with impunity. “We didn't ask them anything. It's shameful. They come and burn tires in front of the prefectures, and we don't tell them anything.”

“While we, yesterday afternoon, simply came to explain that for two days, there will be trading on cereals to be able to make money off the backs of farmers.” Leading to the police response that we know. He regrets that alone “the interests of the powerful” seem really defended.

“We’re not going to give up.”assure Christophe Van Hoorne. “It's not possible. Otherwise, we're dead. Me, in five years, my farm [qui pratique l’agriculture biologique; ndlr]she's screwed.”

“With my colleagues, we refuse to watch each other die.” The objective for the moment is to obtain the release of Jonathan Bouton and his four colleagues. “We remind you that our approach is union-based. We have never hidden ourselves.”

To support the arrested market gardener, an action followed by a press conference was planned on his farm, in the afternoon of Friday, December 6. The goal also: to recall the challenges of Mercosur, which has just reached a decisive stage.

Corentin Clair, associate of Jonathan Bouton, also finds himself alone to ensure the work of two people. Since the arrest, “He's overwhelmed, he's being harassed. He's just picking vegetables as much as he can.” Such arrests, described as arbitrary, can therefore put farms in danger (see their location on the map below).

Several left-wing political figures and environmentalists made the trip, including Évelyne Bourgoin. The candidate of the New Popular Front (NFP) in Reims expressed to France 3 Champagne-Ardenne her support for the issues defended by the Peasant Confederation. “It is in line with what we defend: organic, the preservation of landscapes and water, the defense of fairly paid work and healthy food for the greatest number of people.”

“If we make these peasants disappear”she fears, “we are putting all our agriculture in the hands of agro-industry”. And she denounces, by curtailing the FNSEA, “a double-speak. We proclaim loud and clear that we should not sign Mercosur, because we have just discovered that it was not good; that we must plant hedges and preserve water. And on the other hand, we support the maintenance of pesticides and cereal agreements which deprive those who practice peasant, not intensive, agriculture of a decent income.”

There is also “a double standard, in relation to the way in which the demonstrators are considered. On the one hand, they are opposed to the system in place which highlights agro-industry and intensive livestock farming. They are not not welcome and we are violently opposed to them But we also have a speech to support the farmers… This is not okay. environment., animal… and human well-being.”

Jonathan Bouton was still in police custody when this article was published. As a general rule, police custody does not exceed 48 hours.