“Come to make war”. This is how Emmanuel Macron described the thousands of demonstrators present this Saturday in Sainte-Soline, during the demonstration against the “mega basin” of this city of Deux-Sèvres. On the sidelines of a trip to the Hautes-Alpes, where he came to present his water plan on Thursday, Emmanuel Macron spoke about the violent clashes during this rally.
“You have thousands of people who just came to wage war. It is unacceptable, ”said the head of state as the banned demonstration on Saturday against the mega basin of Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres) was punctuated by very violent clashes between militants and forces of l order with two demonstrators still in a coma.
“Scenes of unacceptable violence”
The president denounced “scenes of unacceptable violence” on the side of the demonstrators. “In some people a form of habit of violence sets in, it must be fought with great firmness”, he commented, asking “all the republican political forces to be perfectly clear on this subject”.
From 6,000 to 8,000 people according to the authorities, 30,000 according to the organizers, demonstrated on Saturday. In two reports, the prefecture and the gendarmerie defend a targeted and proportionate response to 800 to 1,000 “radical” demonstrators. On the contrary, the League for Human Rights denounces “an immoderate use” of force on all the demonstrators, as soon as they approach the water reserve. The organizers counted 200 injured, including at least one blind person in addition to the two demonstrators in a coma. The families of the two men filed a complaint, in particular for “attempted murder”.