It is a legal and political battle which has lasted for more than 4 years, which opposed the actors of the associative world and the Ministry of the Interior and which has just found a solution in the decision of the Council of State… Last November 7 , the high court validated the creation and missions of the “Déméter” Cell
What is the “Demeter” cell?
The “Déméter” cell is a gendarmerie cell created in October 2019, by an agreement signed by Place Beauvau with the agricultural unions FNSEA and JA, and intended to fight against attacks on the agricultural world. To better understand when and why this special unit was born, Nicolas Herbeau receives Lionel Brun-Valicon, member of the national office of the League for Human Rights.
According to his explanations, “this unit was set up at the end of 2019 as part of an agreement which was signed between the Ministry of the Interior and the so-called productivist agricultural unions, as part of a mission which was handed over to the gendarmerie. Its aim is to coordinate these services in order to share information, in particular with unions and to obtain feedback which aimed, in fact, mainly to follow the actions of environmental associations which take care in particular of the functioning of certain agricultural operations and their excesses, such as the L214 association“.
What problems does this cell pose?
According to Lionel Brun-Valicon, “this collaboration between the gendarmerie and the trade union organizations poses a fundamental concern because there may be a political orientation given to this cell which can achieve freedom of expression and freedom of association but also to the freedom to inform. And concretely, this collaboration leads to arrests and summonses which have no reason to exist.
A legal and administrative battle has been underway for four years. While the administrative court had already limited the capacity to act of the “Démeter” cell, the recent decision of the Council of State takes the opposite direction.
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