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In southwest France, dozens were injured in a massive protest against the construction of a water basin near the village of Sainte-Soline.
Thousands of demonstrators demonstrated against the construction of a large water basin to serve as a reserve for agricultural irrigation. In times of water scarcity, farmers can use water from the reservoir to water their crops. According to the demonstrators, this leads to a “monopoly on water by the agricultural industry”.
The water basins would also be harmful to nature. The reservoirs should be able to hold about 300 Olympic swimming pools of water. An artificial lake of 650,000 cubic meters will be excavated for this purpose.
The officers were attacked with, among other things, Molotov cocktails and used tear gas against demonstrators. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has said that “ultra-left environmentalists used unprecedented violence” against the approximately 3,000 officers sent there.