Gérald Darmanin wants to dissolve the environmental collective Uprisings of the Earth

Published on : 03/28/2023 – 16:35

The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin announced on Tuesday March 28 that he was initiating the procedure for the dissolution of the group “Uprisings of the earth”, which he accused of being at the origin of the “violent actions” which took place on Saturday. in Sainte-Soline, in Deux-Sèvres during the prohibited demonstration against water reservoirs.

Speaking during the session of questions to the government at the National Assembly, the Minister of the Interior added that he would present at a future Council of Ministers a decree of dissolution at the end of the procedure.

He insisted on “the extreme violence of small groups on file by the intelligence services sometimes for very many years, such as the de facto group ‘Earth uprisings'”. The group, presented as belonging to the movement of the ultra-left by the Ministry of the Interior, is one of the organizers of the demonstration in Sainte-Soline against the “megabasins”, which gave rise to violent clashes with the gendarmes.

The minister announced that he had requested “two reports”, one from the prefect of Deux-Sèvres and the other from the director general of the national gendarmerie, on the events in Sainte-Soline. These two reports, he said, will be put “on line in the afternoon on the website of the Ministry of the Interior”. “The government has nothing to hide,” he said.

According to a note from the Interior Ministry dated Tuesday, “Earth Uprisings” (SLT) “incites and participates in the commission of sabotage and material damage”. Created in 2021 by “members of the ultra-left from the former ZAD (zone to defend) of Notre-Dame-des-Landes” in Loire-Atlantique, SLT “created the concept of ‘disarmament’ intended to make accept the practice of eco-sabotage,” according to the note.

The police response is debated

At the same time, a hearing of the Minister of the Interior in the National Assembly was announced, on the “management of the maintenance of order”, indicated the chairman of the Law Commission Sacha Houlié.

This committee hearing should take place “next week”, according to the deputy Renaissance, while the left criticizes the police response to the demonstrations against the pension reform and the rally against the “megabasins” in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres) , marked by violent clashes.

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A citizen petition has also been launched on the site of the National Assembly to demand the “dismantling” of the BRAV-M, police units at the heart of criticism. It collected more than 140,000 citizen signatures in six days and could be the subject of a debate in public session if it collects 500,000.

Before this threshold, the Law Commission can already appoint a deputy rapporteur, who can choose to close this petition or examine it in committee.

After the hearing of Gérald Darmanin, the Law Commission “will study in a second time the admissibility of the petition on the dissolution of the BRAV-M in the coming weeks”, indicated Sacha Houlié.

Created in the spring of 2019 during the yellow vests movement, the BRAV-M are police units circulating on motorcycles to maintain order during demonstrations, being more mobile than CRS companies or mobile gendarmes. Their mission is to go into contact with the thugs to stop the damage and challenge them.

They are nevertheless decried for their methods of muscular intervention and are under several legal investigations for violence against demonstrators.

With AFP