Tear gas and chemicals were used by French police in Paris on Saturday in response to a far-right protest a week before second round of the presidential elections in France.
Hundreds of activists of the ecological group Extinction Rebellion blocked traffic this morning in a section of the Grand Boulevard in central Paris in an action aimed at warning of climate change.
Activists set up a roadblock of straw bales and staged a sit-in protest about 300 meters from these boulevards. Some of them were tied to containers filled with cement in order to prevent their possible removal, one of them told the French Agency.
About fifteen activists sitting in a meditative posturesettled on the front line against some gendarmes.
A large banner blocked the cobblestone, like a theater curtain, “This world is dying, let us build the next”, while activists, waving colored flags, shouted slogans such as: “We are warm, warm, warm, warmer than the climate.”
The police maintained a discreet attitude until the middle of the morning (local time). “We plan to stay for three days,” a spokeswoman told AFP on Monday night, adding that about 1,000 activists were on the spot by mid-morning.
“We urge citizens to join us,” she said, referring to conferences and discussions in this “big market” dedicated to tackling climate change. on the boulevard on the Easter weekend of the catholics.
The move, in the middle of the two rounds of the French presidential election – the second round will be held on April 24 – was decided in late January, said the spokeswoman, who complained that the public debate on ecology was “invisible”. “We reject the ideas of the far right, obviously,” he said.
“The blockade and occupation of public space will intensify”he warned, insisting on the non-violent nature of the movement.
Yesterday, Friday, the Extinction Rebellion blocked four bridges in London, blocking traffic in the British capital, in an action aimed at warning to take action to address climate change.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news
