“Leave concrete”, “Dindons de Lafarge”… On Sunday December 10, demonstrators decorated a concrete production unit located in Paris on the banks of the Seine with large banners, to denounce the climate and societal impact of this sector, end of a weekend of similar actions organized in the country.
Under the gaze of police officers deployed from a distance, around one hundred and fifty people of all ages, their faces sometimes covered with a turkey mask, gathered in a good-natured atmosphere in front of the site of the Mexican group Cemex, in the 13th arrondissement, in two steps from the François-Mitterrand library. “We are reclaiming the places occupied by concreters in order to open up a space for local struggles to speak out against land grabbing and the concreting of the pharaonic projects of Greater Paris or the 2024 Olympics,” explained the organizers ( The Earth Uprisings, Extinction Rebellion, Youth for Climate, etc.), also denouncing “the numerous exemptions” from the “zero net artificialization” (ZAN) objective included in the Climate and Resilience Law. In particular, opponents of the double expressway projects in Yvelines or the Grand Paris Express line on the agricultural lands of Saclay and Gonesse were present.
Cement and concrete account for 8% of global CO2 emissions
At the same time, in Le Teil, in Ardèche, the prefecture counted around one hundred and fifty demonstrators, and a portion of the RD86 had been closed to traffic, with the organizers planning a “slow race”. In Allier, where around forty people gathered, as in Puy-de-Dôme, the prefectures had issued orders prohibiting demonstrations around the establishments of the Lafarge group.
Access to the Val-de-Reuil (Eure) site was forced on Sunday in the middle of the day by around a hundred people “hooded and masked”, according to the sub-prefect of Bernay, Philippe Fournier-Montgieux, adding that the guard had been “sequestered” in a room until the police intervened about ten minutes later. The demonstrators were dispersed using tear gas, said the sub-prefect, who specified that an investigation was open and that “the plant will be able to restart normally on Monday”.
The day before, in Tarn, people marched against the A69 motorway, some entering the site of a bituminous coating plant which will make up the surface of this project.
Demonstrations also took place in front of a concrete plant of the Lafarge group (Holcim) in Saint-Barthélémy-d’Anjou (Maine-et-Loire), or in Sainte-Cécile (Saône-et-Loire) against a construction project. extension of a quarry, the operator of which is a subsidiary of Vinci Construction.
The production of cement and concrete represents 8% of global CO2 emissions, more than air transport and maritime transport combined, professionals admit. “At Lafarge we believe that the organizers of these actions on our industrial sites are targeting the wrong target,” responded the sector giant, assuring that the “company is fully mobilized in the decarbonization of its activities and its products.”