“Extinction Rebellion Activists Arrested After Damaging BNP ATMs”

Extinction Rebellion activists are closely watched. According to information collected by Europe 1, seven activists were apprehended in Dijon on Wednesday evening when they had just degraded banks in the city. During the day, territorial intelligence alerted the local police that a punch action could take place at night. Around 8 p.m., the BAC, dog teams and local staff then positioned themselves discreetly near the banking establishments.

Two hours later, thinking they would benefit from nightfall to go unnoticed, several groups of activists took coordinated action at three BNP cash machines, a brand denounced by the environmental movement as the most ” pollution” of France because of the funding it provides for projects using fossil fuels.

Other facts listed

At 9:55 p.m., then 10 p.m. and finally 10:10 p.m., the police arrested seven activists in three places in the city in a coordinated fashion, just after they degraded the facades of the agencies with glue and black paint. All of them, unknown to the police, were taken into custody. After 48 hours in police custody, they were presented to justice on Friday, with a view to their appearance at a correctional hearing. The Dijon prosecutor’s office will request their placement under judicial supervision.

The investigation is continuing. Because other similar facts were committed on the night of February 6 to 7. About thirty BNP bank ATMs had been degraded throughout the national territory, including eight in the city of Dijon alone. On Wednesday evening, other banks were targeted by the Extinction Rebellion movement, notably in Lille, Concarneau, Nantes, Quimper, Carhaix, Auray, Vannes and even Tours, where sometimes the logo of the “Extinction Rebellion” movement was painted in floor.

In Dijon, this weekend, disturbances to public order are “expected” on the sidelines of the sale which must bring together up to 40,000 people, according to a note from the intelligence services. The prefect of Côte-d’Or has banned protest demonstrations in part of the city center, while 300 to 400 individuals from the anarcho-autonomous movement intend to organize an undeclared stroll, to promote “radical ecological actions”.