Énorme ! La bonne sœur qui plaque un écologiste… du grand spectacle en Ardèche où des religieuses défendent le chantier d’un futur centre religieux face aux militants qui bloquent à cause de l’impact sur l’environnement.
🎥 @ferro_nicolas
☝️plaquage non réglementaire pic.twitter.com/3wSyO7s3LO— Léo Chapuis (@leo_chapuis) October 16, 2023
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Since 2018, the project to build a large Catholic religious center in Saint-Pierre-de-Colombier, in Ardèche, has been controversial. This Monday, October 14, environmental activists fiercely opposed the nuns trained in a human chain to protect the completion of the work.
On one side, the ecological collective Les Amis de la Bourges, on the other, nuns. Some are fighting to stop the construction site of the religious complex in Saint-Pierre-de-Colombier, while others are trying to protect its completion. They were all gathered for a new action this Monday, October 14.
From 8 a.m., violent exchanges
The demonstration started early this morning. Impossible for the activists to penetrate the site, fortified with barriers, themselves guarded by nuns who arrived during the night. Some still managed to sneak onto the construction site and violent clashes then began.
From eight o’clock, environmental activists and nuns came to blows. These violent altercations lasted almost an hour.
“I didn’t expect that ,” expressed Sylvain Hérenguel, co-president of the association for the future of the Bourges valley. “ I expected the nuns to be a little reasonable for the public order . The problem is that the religious decided to resort to violence. I was attacked 3 times by five people, who snatched me, who wanted to throw me out. There, They decided to protect the site with their actions and their bodies ,” he added.
Calm then returned. However, the nuns continue to surround, on the basis of a human chain, the backhoe loader supposed to carry out the work. And armed with their voice, it is by singing that they protect the vehicle, so that the work continues. Around ten members of the police are present on the site.
Prevent the destruction of a rare plant
“ There is reseda of jackfruit noted by the French Biodiversity Office [editor’s note: last May]. And it is not in the environmental study on which the Prefect relied to restart the construction site. They do not have authorization to destroy the habitats of protected species ,” denounces the head of Ami.es de la Bourges. According to him, the fences installed by him are not enough to stem the problem.
“We want to defend agricultural land that could be used for future generations. We need to put things back on track and enforce environmental law ,” concludes Sylvain Herenguel, who has not lost hope of seeing his actions pay off.
With his association, he filed a complaint on Wednesday October 11. Generally speaking, opponents fear the deterioration of the site along the river and the nuisance generated by the massive arrival of pilgrims.
Demonstrations have been going on for 4 years
A meeting organized by the prefect with the different parties of the project is planned for Thursday, October 19. The opponents present on the site had warned: they reserved the right to intervene again if the construction site were to resume by Thursday.
Demonstrations against this construction have continued to be organized in recent years. In June 2020, a ZAD began to be installed and following the strong mobilization against the project, the State stopped the construction site in October 2020.
Work then resumed at the end of 2022. Last Thursday, two women chained themselves to the construction site’s excavator using an arm-lock .
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“I didn’t expect that ,” expressed Sylvain Hérenguel, co-president of the association for the future of the Bourges valley. “ I expected the nuns to be a little reasonable for the public order . The problem is that the religious decided to resort to violence. I was attacked 3 times by five people, who snatched me, who wanted to throw me out. There, They decided to protect the site with their actions and their bodies ,” he added.
Calm then returned. However, the nuns continue to surround, on the basis of a human chain, the backhoe loader supposed to carry out the work.
“Prevent the destruction of a rare plant”: “They do not have authorization to destroy the habitats of protected species ,” denounces the head of Ami.es de la Bourges…Generally speaking, opponents fear the deterioration of the site along the river and the nuisance generated by the massive arrival of pilgrims.
