Opponents of the Lyon-Turin railway line are gradually leaving their base camp in La Chapelle (Savoie), AFP noted on Sunday morning, after a calm night according to the gendarmerie.
While some were still having breakfast, some of the activists folded their tents on Sunday morning and left the land that had been lent to them, backpacks, on foot, by bicycle or by car, some going to the nearest station. , noted an AFP journalist.
“No major event was observed during the night (from Saturday to Sunday). The 2,000 gendarmes and police officers remain mobilized to guarantee the safety of the entire department of Savoie”, indicated the gendarmerie.
The day should be devoted to round tables, conferences, assemblies, etc.: Sunday, “it’s a time to come together, to debate, to consider what’s next”, said Pina, spokesperson for the Uprisings of Earth, one of the organizations behind the undeclared demonstration which brought together more than 4,000 people on Saturday according to the organizers and more than 3,000 according to the authorities.
The program also provided for a general assembly of the local committees of the Earth Uprisings threatened with dissolution by the Ministry of the Interior.
On the spot, a manager indicated during a speech that a cameraman of the organization, injured, was to leave the hospital during the day of Sunday.
A round table was about to start in the middle of the morning under the big tent set up for the occasion and two groups of around fifteen people left for workshops in the forest, according to the AFP journalist.
Opponents of the railway line demonstrated on Saturday afternoon on a road in the Maurienne valley, briefly occupying the A43 motorway, and confronting the police at Saint-Rémy-de-Maurienne.
“96 foreign nationals, known to the services, were turned back at the border. More than 400 dangerous objects were seized during upstream checks. Support for the 12 injured gendarmes,” Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin summed up in a tweet. .
The prefect of Savoie François Ravier had reported one minor injury on the demonstrators’ side, while the organizers mentioned around fifty serious injuries, six hospitalizations including two functional prognoses.
According to the prefect, 300 to 400 “radicals have formed a black bloc”. Clashes had interrupted discussions between the authorities and elected officials, who were asking for an extension to the initial course.
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06/18/2023 14:59:05 – La Chapelle (France) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP