They want to be combative, despite the dissolution procedure. The “Earth uprisings” movement, co-organizer of the demonstration against the artificial water retention of Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres) on March 25, denounced on Friday “the government’s desire to stifle the movements which oppose on an ecological level”, adding that “dissolution or not”, it will “not stop”.
“This dissolution is a way of diverting attention (…) and of returning the responsibility of the government in the brutal repression of demonstrators in recent weeks, and in particular in Sainte-Soline”, declared Benoît Feuillu, spokesperson movement.
Minister Gérald Darmanin announced on March 28 his intention to dissolve the group, citing “the extreme violence of small groups on file by the intelligence services sometimes for very many years, such as the de facto group Uprisings of the earth”.
A petition of support gathers 60,000 signatures
Activists denounce a “fallacious motive”. “We would be, according to the government, a form of closed group, so-called ultra-left. It is really showing an erroneous vision of what this movement is: a broad, composite, democratic and popular coalition of a set of local collectives, national organizations, NGOs, farms, sections unions,” they argued.
The group thus went to Place Beauvau on Friday to denounce an “absolutely fantastic” procedure. “The government is violating both freedom of expression and freedom of association”, argued the two lawyers for the movement during a press briefing, denouncing “a masquerade of contradictory procedure”. A support petition launched by the group has garnered over 60.000 signaturesincluding those of several hundred personalities.
“This ground swell cannot be dissolved”, added Benoît Feuillu, announcing that the movement counts, if the dissolution was finally pronounced in the Council of Ministers, to file “referred freedom or suspension before the Council of State” as well as appeal on the merits and go to the European Court of Human Rights.
In the meantime, the movement is organizing a public meeting in Paris on April 12 entitled “We are the uprisings of the earth”. Personalities from the cultural, trade union and political world are expected to attend.