Between 700 and 1,000 people demonstrated on Saturday, November 16, at the site of a water reserve project for agricultural irrigation in Saint-Sauvant (Vienna), one of the disputed mega-basins in Poitou, according to the prefecture and the organizers.
In a happy atmosphere and in the presence of children, the protesters sowed seeds on a part of the land in question and built a wooden tower to observe the little bustard, a bird threatened by the works according to the opponents, said a correspondent from Agence France- Press.
By doing so, they “they trampled an agricultural plot that had just been planted with clover and oats to feed the animals in spring”The prefecture indicated in a press release, specifying that a complaint will be filed for unauthorized entry into a private rural property and damage to crops. One person was arrested for carrying a weapon and objects were seized.
This demonstration “It’s a success. We managed to delay the project for a few months. This is a warning, there will be no basin in Saint-Sauvant”estimated Julien Le Guet, spokesperson for a group of opponents, Bassines Non Merci.
The water reserve to be built in Saint-Sauvant is part of a set of sixteen reservoirs planned in the region, including that of Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres), where a demonstration of several thousand people, prohibited by the authorities, , led to violent clashes in late March 2023 between radical activists and the police.
