The mobilization against the possible organization of the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps is closing ranks. Nearly 250 demonstrators, sometimes in colorful ski outfits, adorned with wigs and red noses, gathered on Saturday January 6 in three points in the Alps.
In Chambéry, there were around a hundred gathered in a park not far from the headquarters of the Savoie departmental Olympic and sports committee, observed a journalist from Agence France Presse. Activists from different associations (Extinction Rebellion, Attac, the Uprisings of the Earth) or simple citizens, were united at the call of the No JO collective. On the program, ski and bobsleigh race on tarmac with presentation of “medals” to regional presidents Laurent Wauquiez (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes), Renaud Muselier (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur) and to the president of the National Olympic Committee and French sportsman, David Lappartient, to reward their “authoritarianism”, their “dishonesty” and their “corruption” respectively.
Particularly denounced, the fact that an association signatory of an appeal against the holding of the 2030 Olympic Games in France would have lost the subsidies granted by the Aura Region in December. A cut that the region had denied by affirming that nothing was voted on.
“The eco-friendly Olympics are a joke”, “All schuss towards the economic and ecological disaster”, “Alpine skiing or water skiing? », We could read on the posters. “2030 Olympics: Referendum! “, claimed another.
“Festive” climate
In Grenoble, around forty people positioned themselves near a roundabout on the national road leading towards the ski resorts, wearing colorful alpine sports outfits to raise awareness among tourists. In the Hautes-Alpes, around a hundred activists also dressed in colorful outfits took advantage of the traffic jams at the roundabout of one of the A51 exits, to interact with motorists in a “festive” climate, according to Stéphane Passeron, member of the No JO collective.
The French Alps’ candidacy offer made by the PACA and Aura regions for the 2030 Winter Games was the only one accepted by the IOC on November 29, 2023, before a final decision in July. Since then, elected officials and associations have pointed out the ecological and economic risks represented by this global event. Some are calling for sustainable Games to develop transport, particularly rail, in the Alps.