The government dissolved Les Uprisings of the Earth on Wednesday in the Council of Ministers, accusing the environmental collective of “calling” and “participating” in violence, a decision denounced on the left. “We do not dissolve an uprising”, reacted the collective on Twitter, welcoming the marks of support. “Stocks will resurface everywhere, dissolution or not,” he added.
“The use of violence is not legitimate in the rule of law and that is what is sanctioned,” said government spokesman Olivier Véran after the Council of Ministers.
This movement “incites the commission of sabotage and material damage”
“Under the guise of defending the preservation of the environment”, this movement “incites the commission of sabotage and material damage, including by violence”, writes the government in its decree of dissolution. But, “no cause justifies the particularly numerous and violent acts” to which it “calls and provokes” and “in which its members and sympathizers participate”, adds the decree.
To support its argument, the government lists in the decree a series of actions carried out by SLT which resulted in “material destruction” and “physical attacks on the police”. The government had initiated the dissolution procedure on March 28, a few days after the violent clashes between gendarmes and opponents of the water reservoirs of Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres) for which it had attributed responsibility to the movement. The procedure, which remained blocked for more than two months, finally succeeded after a new demonstration supported by SLT this weekend, against the Lyon-Turin rail link, marked by scuffles.
SLT, born in January 2021 in the former ZAD (zone to defend) of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, calls for rallies on Wednesday early evening in front of the prefectures. Personalities must also come to express their support before the Council of State in Paris from 5:00 p.m.
“Political Dissolution”
“We will go to court and believe in the possibility of a legal victory to overturn this iniquitous decision, as has been the case for other dissolutions for political reasons in recent years”, assured the Uprisings.
In parallel with the dissolution, a wave of arrests of environmental activists took place on Tuesday in the investigation into the action carried out at the end of 2022 against a Lafarge cement factory in Provence and supported by SLT. Sixteen people were still in custody on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter told AFP. These arrests were made in Loire-Atlantique, in particular in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, and in the Marseille region.
The dissolution and the arrests were denounced by part of the left. “I see a real drift and a loss of composure,” said Wednesday the environmental deputy Julien Bayou, who spoke to journalists at the National Assembly. “The President of the Republic continues to criminalize social movements”, “it’s dangerous”, he said.
“You will remain like those who have finally understood nothing of the issues” of the climate, for her part commented on Twitter the deputy EELV Sandrine Rousseau, mentioning Emmanuel Macron, Elisabeth Borne and Gérald Darmanin. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La France insoumise, had regretted on Tuesday that the activists were “repressed like terrorists that they are not”, judging that they should be “listened to”.
The League for Human Rights denounces a “questioning of the freedoms of association”
The League for Human Rights (LDH) denounced a “questioning of the freedoms of association, demonstration, expression, as well as the rights of the defense” and called for “joining the rallies of support” at SLT.
The Uprisings claim an “extremely varied” base. A support evening in April had attracted various political, artistic and scientific personalities.