Some 300 people gathered in front of the Lyon Opera on Wednesday evening. Thirty minutes after the start of the operations, the police used tear gas canisters. What a demonstrator deplores.
Some 300 people gathered in front of the Lyon Opera on Wednesday evening. The participants responded to the appeal launched by Les Uprisings of the Earth, an association threatened with dissolution. In response, several events were organized across France.
“The rally was peaceful”
“The purpose of the rally is twofold. There was the threat of the movement being dissolved during the Council of Ministers today, explains to BFM Lyon Tim (assumed name), a former activist at Extinction Rebellion Lyon who recently joined the Lyon local committee of the Uprisings of the earth. And it was also to show that even if the dissolution had been announced, we were present and we remained determined to lead the struggles that we are leading.
In front of the opera, the demonstrators gathered around 7 p.m. The first tear gas canisters were used – in large numbers – at 7:33 p.m. to disperse the group. These gases were used while a speech was in progress, reports Tim.
“We had to talk two or three minutes before the gas was launched, he says. The rally was peaceful, there was no risk of overflow.”
This maneuver was applied taking into account the prefectural ban on assembly – a document made public two hours before the start of the event – and after several calls for dispersal on the tape recorder.
“We cannot speak of radical ecology”
This order prohibiting gatherings surprised the activist. “It was taken at 4:30 p.m., which does not allow us to react in time and to modify the place of assembly”, notes Tim. “And then also the proportion… A lot of gas was used, he continues. It’s scandalous. We can’t talk about radical ecology.”
According to a report communicated by the prefecture, 14 verbalizations were drawn up on the sidelines of the rally. A person, suspected of having thrown projectiles at the police, was arrested.
They are fined 135 euros for non-compliance with the decree prohibiting protest rallies in Lyon this Wednesday evening.
