Tuesday 28 October 2014

How absolutely horrendous

Dear Val,
My son & his french girlfriend attended the protest at the proposed Sivens Barrage site over last weekend. I am so glad that they were there & that we have 1st hand reports of what really went on - it was the protesters who actually sealed off the area where Remi had fallen. When the body was taken away by the pompiers the surrounding area was left open to the public, the protesters fenced the area and waited for many, many hours for forensics to arrive... 
The scene on Saturday night/Sunday morning was described to us as terrifying, like a civil war - people were bombarded by grenades, tear gas & rubber bullets from 1am through until 6.30am. No one had a possibility of leaving or any means to defend themselves. One girl in a caravan who refused to leave the relative safety of it had it covered in a tarpaulin by the CRS who smashed the windows & tear gassed her. The insane brutality makes me weep, these were people young & old attempting to save a beautiful wetland area for future generations. It is an absolute tragedy that a young man was killed in the process, a young man whose passion was wild flowers in particular a rare wetland buttercup present on the site. There is an online petition that has been there for a long time quietly collecting not very many signatures. I am giving a link to it in the hope that our community will take the few seconds to sign it & to send up a prayer to Remi  who died so tragically and to his friends i & family in their suffering. May justice prevail. Laura

Val says thank you Laura for giving us a true picture, how sad that these people were not allowed a peaceful protest and how tragic that a young man whose concern for flowers lost him his life. I could not be there on the barricades but I can sign the petition.
This is France not Afghanistan or Syria.
We hear now that the government have banned the grenade that killed the young protester being used again... too late for Remi
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