MAN FIGHTS FOR HIS LIFE AFTER FRENCH WATER PROTEST CLASHES
▶ Violent scenes as thousands of police and demonstrators meet on site of planned reservoir
A French protester was last night fighting for his life in hospital after suffering head injuries during a demonstration at a disputed reservoir in western France.
Prosecutor Julien Wattebled said the man, 30, was among three protesters treated in hospital after clashes with police at the rally at Sainte-Soline, south of Poitiers.
A woman, 19, suffered facial injuries and a man, 27, was taken to hospital with a broken foot. An inquiry would determine the exact nature of the injuries and the circumstances in which they received them, said Mr Wattebled.
The prosecutor’s office said seven protesters were injured, but the organisers of the gathering said more than 200 people were hurt.
Twenty-nine police officers were injured, with two of them requiring hospital admission, the prosecutor’s office said.
The clashes were the latest flashpoint in nationwide tensions that have for days rocked France. The protests led to Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla cancelling their planned visit to the country.
Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in daily demonstrations to voice their disapproval of President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pensions reform.
Several thousand activists on Saturday descended on Sainte-Soline, 400km southwest of Paris, to oppose the construction of giant water storage facilities. They claim that the “basins” to irrigate crops will distort access to water amid drought conditions. Organisers of the gathering said 30,000 attended.
Supporters of their cause
travelled from Italy, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland and Germany, while some represented landless people from Mali, Colombia and Chile, as well as First Americans, according to Le Monde newspaper.
“While the country is rising up to defend pensions, we will simultaneously stand up to defend water,” organisers said.
More than 3,000 police officers and paramilitary gendarmes were sent to guard the site during the demonstration.
In a tweet supporting the work of the emergency services
there, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne denounced “the intolerable wave of violence” at Sainte-Soline.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin also condemned the violence, blaming elements from the “ultra-left and the extreme left”.
Eleven people were detained after police seized weapons including petanque balls, meat knives and explosives.
While not directly related to the anti-pensions reform campaign, the clashes over the water reservoir construction
have added to an increasingly challenging situation for the French government.
What began as a movement against pension reform has escalated into the biggest domestic crisis of Mr Macron’s second term.
Police and protesters have clashed daily in Paris and other cities during the past week, in scenes reminiscent of the “yellow vest” protests in the winter of 2019-2020.
Protesters threw projectiles, including improvised explosives, while police responded with tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets.
The government faces another difficult day tomorrow, when unions are due to hold further strikes and protests on what would have been the second day of King Charles’s visit.
French security forces were criticised last week for their heavy-handed tactics.
On Friday, the Council of Europe warned that sporadic violence in protests “cannot justify excessive use of force”.