in Vienne, hundreds of opponents demonstrated in “a joyful atmosphere”

Between 700 and 1,000 people demonstrated on Saturday November 16 on the site of a water reserve project for agricultural irrigation in Saint-Sauvant (Vienna), one of the contested megabasins in Poitou, according to the prefecture and the organizers.

In a joyful atmosphere and in the presence of children, the demonstrators sowed seeds on part of the plot concerned and erected a wooden tower to observe the little bustard, a bird threatened by the construction site according to opponents, noted a correspondent from Agence France-Presse.

In doing so, they “trampled on an agricultural plot which had just been sown with clover and oats to feed the animals in the spring”said the prefecture in a press release, specifying that a complaint will be filed for unauthorized entry into a private rural farm and damage to crops. A person was arrested for carrying a weapon and items were seized.

This demonstration “is a success. We managed to push back the project by a few months. This is a warning, there will be no basin in Saint-Sauvant”estimated Julien Le Guet, spokesperson for a collective of opponents, Bassines Non Merci.

The water reserve which is to be built in Saint-Sauvant is part of a set of sixteen reservoirs planned in the region, including that of Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres), where a demonstration of several thousand people, prohibited by the authorities, gave rise to violent clashes at the end of March 2023 between radical activists and the police.