Jacques Serais / Photo credit: ALAIN PITTON / NURPHOTO / NURPHOTO VIA AFP
The Minister of the Interior has announced that the decree dissolving the Earth Uprisings will indeed be examined by the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, June 21. The dissolution of the collective was the subject of negotiations within the government itself.
Fourteen environmental activists were taken into custody on Tuesday in Loire-Atlantique and in the Marseille region. They are suspected of having carried out an action against the Lafarge cement factory in Provence at the end of 2022. The Uprisings of the Earth collective describes “a communication and intimidation operation”. Gérald Darmanin presents the decree to the Council of Ministers this Wednesday. Is this the end of a standoff between the Minister of the Interior and the Prime Minister who opposed the dissolution of the collective?
A symbolic dissolution
After the violence that occurred last weekend in Savoy during the demonstration against the Lyon-Turin rail link, Gérald Darmanin announced the dissolution of the Les Uprisings of the Earth collective on Tuesday at the National Assembly: “I also have a thought for the thirteen gendarmerie soldiers who were injured this weekend. No cause justifies injuring police officers or gendarmes. At the request of the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, I will present to the Council ministers the decree dissolving the Earth Uprisings”.
The Minister of the Interior describes this movement as “eco-terrorist”. While he had been calling for his dissolution for several months, Elisabeth Borne was braking with four irons in the face of pressure from elected officials on the left. According to an adviser to the executive, Emmanuel Macron decided last week, putting pressure on his Prime Minister to give the green light to this decree.
This dissolution, which delights the right and annoys the left, is above all symbolic. The Uprisings of the Earth is a collective of associations. The entities that compose it are not threatened.