from Revolution News
Ten zadists were injured by the French police who resumed their attacks against the occupation of the forest Sivens in order to clear the way for developers build a dam considered useless, even more since it implies the deforestation of 40 ha. Occupiers – naming their occupation ZAD, zone à défendre meaning area to be defended - have been fighting the state and capitalists for a year now to save the forest; previous occupations have been brutally repressed by police, protests have been violently attacked, activists even started hunger strikes in vane to force local authorities hold public debates.
They were evicted form the forest before, but always returned and set up en encampment so they can guard the forest from the police and the developers. The more intense repression against them grew, the more zadists came to defend the trees.
On September 1st, just as the the day broke, 200 riot cops from Paris, armed with rubber bullets and tear gas and attack dogs, attacked the zadists and partially destroyed their encampment, to clear the way for the trees to be cut. Zadists opposed resistance and erected barricades; villagers mocked and tried to stop cops. But, “punishment was harsher than in previous confrontation”. Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at them, badly injuring 10 zadists.
“We come across a person whose leg was hit by a stun grenade. Dozens others were helped by nurses. A person was wounded in the neck by a rubber bullet: “It’s like being at war,” a nurse said.
The battle was lost and police managed to clear the way for the deforestation to begin. But zadists say that the repression made more visible the plan of the developers which they hoped to pursue away from the eyes and the ears of the public. They can’t do this any longer, as local authorities are more and more pushed towards engaging in a public debate on the destruction of the forest, and the state is called to supervise the lack of protection of the workers employed by the sub-contractors. Repression endured by zadists has enraged locals and other activists, so now more are willing to physically impede the the project of the developers: “This is undoubtedly a milestone in the form that the mobilization.” “Let this be clear to developers, the General Council and its supporters. The start of work does not mark the end of the mobilization, on the contrary. The resistance movement is more numerous, more caring, more diverse and more determined than ever. Repression makes us stronger. Our position is clear: we want to stop this.”
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