After the march against the pension reform, a hundred demonstrators took over the former Arvor cinema, renamed the people’s house. They want to make it a place of meeting and exchange. The mayor of Rennes and the prefecture condemn the violence and the occupation.
They were looking for a place to meet and hold general assemblies. They set their sights on the former Arvor cinema, located rue d’Antrain in Rennes, a disused place.
After the march against the pension reform, a hundred demonstrators decided to occupy this old building located behind Place Sainte-Anne. An action they had been preparing for two weeks.
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Occupation of the former Arvor cinema in Rennes following the demonstration against the pension reform
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©amateur video – P. Marinot
The occupants displayed their message on the public highway by means of a banner bearing the inscription “Rooting the strike”.
Their place of occupation was symbolically renamed the people’s house.
In the evening, the police deployed in the street. They secured the public road but did not attempt to enter the building.
In a press release issued this Sunday morning, Nathalie Appéré “strongly condemns all the violence and damage committed in Rennes on Saturday evening, on the sidelines and at the end of the day of national mobilization against the pension reform of March 11“.
The mayor of Rennes evokes the occupation of the old cinema Arvor, which would be the fact, according to her, of these troublemakers “In the evening, a hundred thugs looted a clothing store, occupied a building by force, blocked a traffic lane, set fire to garbage cans and construction equipment, tagged and defaced public and private property.“.
Like the town hall, thee prefect “condemns with the greatest firmness the violence and degradation committed this night in the center of Rennes”.
In its press release, the prefecture explains that “dThe barricades were erected with materials from neighboring construction sites, garbage cans, which individuals set on fire, hindering road and pedestrian traffic. A clothing store was ransacked.
According to the document from the prefecture, three police officers were slightly injured and five individuals were arrested.
Around 10 a.m. this Sunday morning, a few dozen people are gathered in front of the building where “People’s House” has been tagged. On the window a poster detailing a program has been posted. It announces a brunch, a food distribution, a general meeting and the screening of a film. On the sidewalk the food distribution has started.
The door is open and access is free. Inside, around twenty people, between the ages of 20 and 40, chat in small groups, or bustle around a table on which hot drinks, cheese, bread and other foods are placed. Most of them have spent the night here, but a few people are here out of curiosity, to see what’s going on.
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“We are members of various ecologist, feminist, anti-capitalist collectives, or trade unions. We have no place in Rennes where we meet to discuss, share information and debate. So we decided to occupy this place“says a young woman.
Joined by three other people, the discussion begins. “There is something unprecedented happening. The number of demonstrators, union unity, social momentum… Here we want to consider what’s next” said one of our interlocutors.
“There is sharing, solidarity. We make a connection here. We want citizens, associations or collectives to come and propose things. Screenings, debates or other. That everyone can seize this place” adds another occupant.
As for the illegality of the occupation, and their relationship to the authorities, our interlocutors admit that they had no relationship either with the prefecture or with the town hall, but they want to be reassuring “it’s not a movement of bordélisation, we just want a place to meet and exchange“. “We are building something valuable” concludes a thirty-year-old enthusiastically.
