Activists from the Peasant Confederation come to symbolically report to the police

About fifty people gathered in front of the Lodève gendarmerie. JM – JM

Morgane Bara, Thierry Arcier (stylo en main) et Jean-Emile Sanchez ont “pointé” symboliquement dans les locaux de la gendarmerie de Lodève. JM – JM

On January 10, about fifty union members and supporters of the “Conf” showed their support for activists from the agricultural union who had been arrested in Paris during a peaceful demonstration in front of the Grand Palais and who will be tried in early February.

They were able to show up, of their own free will and “symbolically”, at the Lodève gendarmerie to show their support for activists from the Confédération paysanne arrested in Paris on December 7. “We asked to check in in solidarity with two Confederation activists who were arrested following a peaceful action at the Grand Palais in Paris. (Before their trial on February 4 in Paris – Editor's note*), they are subject to judicial supervision which includes checking in, every 15 days, at the police station. It was important for us to show our solidarity and to say that we are continuing the fight for the right to income for farmers and against all free trade agreements”, explains Jean-Emile Sanchez. A member of the “Conf' 34”, he is one of the three voluntary signatories, along with the goatherd Morgane Bara and the winemaker Thierry Arcier, authorized to affix their signatures in the Hérault sub-prefecture. “We thanked the police for their understanding and cooperation”, smiled Jean-Emile Sanchez.

A double standard

But in Paris, on December 7, the atmosphere was quite different. “It was a nice, peaceful action and the CRS were sent… When we attack the heart of the matter, that is to say finance, then we send the BRAV-M. On the other hand, when some people, who are also ultra-liberals, go and break down the door of a prefecture, a water agency or an organization that defends the environment and social conditions, then there is no problem. It's a bit strange”, measured Thierry Arcier. Present in Lodève, Sébastien Rome, former LFI MP for Hérault, also showed his support for the “farmers who demonstrated and must point the finger. We talked about the double standards (in the management of demonstrations). Indeed, this is something we see. When some demonstrate with the agreement, and even the organization, of the public authorities, for others this is not the case”, he commented.

A confrontation of visions

Early December, at the Grand Palais was organized “a big gathering of big speculators on commodities and, ultimately, on the food of humanity, (against the backdrop of negotiations on Mercosur, whose free trade agreement with Europe had been signed the day before – Editor's note). These people control the markets and set the prices. We are demanding the establishment of remunerative prices guaranteeing the work of farmers”, recalls Thierry Arcier. A confrontation of visions, “a big gap between predatory finance and the producer who simply asks that remunerative prices be guaranteed by laws. We need minimum entry prices into the territory. And they must be set according to our production costs,” explains the running mate who is in twelfth position on the list of the Confédération Paysanne in the next elections to the Hérault Chamber of Agriculture. At his side, Morgane Bara, number 2 on the list, offered Conf leaflets to activists and recalled that a large part of the profession does not know that it votes, or thinks that it is useless. But now is the time…"

Head of prevention: “violence against a person in a position of public authority and attempted entry into a public place”, specifies Jean-Emile Sanchez.