From BZ editors
In France, too, climate activists are besieging and blocking the streets – and the French police are reacting harshly.
About ten young activists from the group “Dernière Rénovation” briefly blocked the Paris city highway on Saturday afternoon. The association is comparable to the German “Last Generation”. But unlike in Germany, the French police quickly cleared the boat – with determination. Traffic was moving again within 20 minutes.
The activists, wearing orange vests and banners, had cut off traffic and sat in the roadway. Some glued their hands to the street, reports the AFP news agency.
It only took a few minutes for security forces from the “Brigade de répression des actions violentes” (German: Brigade for the Suppression of Violent Actions, BRAV for short) to arrive.
The police officers asked the climate stickers to clear the street. When they refused, law enforcement officers began ripping the demonstrators’ hands off the roadway. A young activist groaned as her hand was pulled off the pavement and then stared at her hand, according to a Twitter video.
The video also shows an activist screaming and theatrically rolling across the ground after his hands were pulled from the lane. A few seconds later, however, he stops, sits motionless on the street and lets himself be taken away.
Rescue workers later examined the hands of several activists, but could not find any injuries, as reported by the French daily Le Figaro.
After little resistance from the demonstrators, the police cleared the street and got the activists behind the barrier. One activist told the AFP news agency: “We understand that motorists are angry, but we are doing it for them too.”
The police arrested eleven people.
