IndyMedia - Vrij Media Centrum Nederland

Wanneer: 02/02/2016 - 15:10

This article is about developments in the ZAD (‘Zone to Defend’), the site in Western France of a 9+ year occupation against the construction of the Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport by French construction giant, Vinci.

Things have been heating up in France following the decision by a Nantes court to press ahead with the eviction of the last remaining official residents on site, who refused to sell their land. The court ruled that, of the residents, the farms and three families could be evicted straight away, but gave a two month delay to the eight other families. With this legal hurdle out of the way, it looks likely that attempts will be made to evict the occupations in the coming weeks. Attempts to build an airport have been ongoing since the 60s, with resistance taking various forms since 1972. The site has been squatted for the past nine years.

Occupiers are calling on people to get ready to act on the first sign of eviction:

On and around the ZAD:
Call to come resist on the zone and to make sure that we’re not encircled and cut off. Disturb the check-points and movements of the police and ensure the circulation of supporters and supplies.

In the region:
– From the first day of the operation, coordinated actions to blockade roads, whether access points of the zone or the main axes and strategic points of the region.
– Occupations of “places of power” (government or private contractor buildings/offices, police stations, etc)
– Nighttime noise demos outside the hotels where the police and military police sleep.
– The first evening, meeting point of different actions or blockades, in front of the police headquarters at 6pm.
– Demo Saturday in Nantes after one week of intervention.

Outside of the region:
Callout to occupy places of power or local operations to slow the flow of capital, as well as coming to the ZAD to defend for those who can.

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Recent actions against state and Vinci targets
- 22nd January: Two houses of Vinci collaborators attacked. Guy and Béatrice Lamisse, who own houses on the edges of the airport site, started a petition calling for the eviction of the ZAD. On 22nd February, their houses were broken into and the words “collaborators” “not for sale” and “capitalists” left on the walls. The regional president of the Republican party (formerly UMP), condemned the act and called the area «une zone de non-droit » (a lawless zone).
- 22nd January: Rennes – Blockade against the airport and its world, its high-speed rail and its jail. Friday, January 22nd, at dawn, people decided to blockade the road passing through the middle of the construction site for the new Eurorennes train station and in front of the women’s prisons’ main entrance. Bins were overturned, oil spilled and the following text plastered on the jail walls and site fences: This morning, we’re blocking this road with help from some bins tipped over and spilled oil…
- 25th January : demos against the court ruling. Following the court verdict, over 100 people marched in Nantes, stopping traffic and shouting « Résistance, sabotage. Vinci dégage » (Resistance, sabotage, Vinci get lost), and « Ni prison, ni expulsions n’enterreront nos rebellions » (Neither prison nor eviction will bury our resistance). The town hall was grafittied using a fire extinguisher filled with paint, which was then thrown at the doors, smashing the glass. The police station was also tagged and CCTV that had just been reinstalled was neutralised another time.
- Another hundred or so people gathered in Rennes and attacked the town hall with paint bombs and fire extinguishers full of paint, leaving the word ‘ZAD’ in giant letters across the facade.
- 26th January: 7 trucks belonging to Vinci subsidiary torched. Seven trucks belonging to Eurovia Limousin Poitou-Charentes, a Vinci subsidiary, were burnt to a crisp in Limoges, in solidarity with the ZAD. ‘ZAD partout’ (ZAD everywhere) was left sprayed on the shutters of one of the buildings, and a communique was issued saying ‘long live the ZAD, social struggles and solidarities’.

Source: https://en.squat.net/2016/02/01/france-recent-actions-against-vinci-and-...