Braving the weather, they unfurled banners “Let’s disarm the climate criminals” and “Don’t let the ultra-rich destroy the planet”. Along the way, they renamed the Quai des Billionaires “Quai des Climatic Criminals” with a fake street sign.
Attac activists blocked the famous billionaires’ wharf at the Antibes marina (Alpes-Maritimes) on Saturday for an hour to denounce the “climate criminals” whom the “ultra-rich” constitute in their eyes. About twenty activists from the civic action association have closed the gate leading to the quay where the superyacht ships are moored.
The action took place peacefully. A few police officers only came to identify the identities of the demonstrators, unlike the day before when the same association, during a protest action at Le Bourget against private jets, saw twelve of its activists placed in police custody.
The symbolic action is part of a call launched on September 15 by Attac to “disarm” those it considers to be “climate criminals”, owners of private jets or superyachts, and who according to it have already was signed by 10,000 people.
280 tonnes of CO² for a cruise
“It is inadmissible to ask for efforts from the precarious when we do nothing against the ultra-rich”, justified Raphaël Pradeau, spokesman for Attac, an association which claims the ban on private jets and mega-yachts.
According to calculations by Attac, which relies on data from the Twitter account “Yacht CO² Tracker”one of the ships moored at this quay of billionaires alone spent 110,000 liters of fuel for a cruise from August 27 to September 8, or 280 tonnes of CO².
“This corresponds to 28 years of emissions for an average Frenchman and we are told: pee in the shower and you’ll be fine “, Pointed Raphaël Pradeau. Over the last month, according to him, the yachts on this quay of billionaires have accumulated emissions of up to 4,600 tonnes of CO².
Tax heavens
“Not only are these ships ultra-polluting but they also escape taxation with registrations in tax havens,” added the Attac spokesman. According to this same Twitter account, over the last month, the five flags most represented in this quay of billionaires are the Cayman Islands, Malta, the Marshall Islands, the Isle of Man and the Cook Islands.
The Port Vauban of Antibes, which presents itself as the first marina in the Mediterranean with 1,500 berths, offers 18 for superyachts whose length can reach up to 160 m.