In the midst of a historic drought, several thousand demonstrators defied the ban from the Deux-Sèvres prefecture on Saturday to shout their opposition to the “basins” near the construction site of a new water reserve intended for agricultural irrigation. Clashes broke out between demonstrators and security forces, leaving dozens injured on both sides. Violent clashes caused, on Saturday, October 29, around sixty injured on the side of the gendarmes and around thirty on the side of the demonstrators, according to the latest reports, during a rally banned by the Deux-Sèvres prefecture against a “mega-basin” for agricultural irrigation “61 gendarmes were injured, 22 of them seriously,” tweeted Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin for whom “this figure shows that it was not a peaceful demonstration but a very violent gathering”. “I hope that all the republican political forces will condemn this violence”, added the minister, who according to his entourage returned to Paris in the evening “to follow from Beauvau the evolution of the situation in Sainte-Soline”.>> To read also: ” Wastewater, seawater, rain… in search of new sources against the drought “On the demonstrators’ side, around thirty people were injured, ten of whom were taken care of by the firefighters and three hospitalized, according to the collective “Bassines Non merc i”, which brings together environmental associations, trade unions and anti-capitalist groups opposed to this “grabbing of water” intended for “agro-industry”. the environmental deputy of Vienne, Lisa Belluco, according to an AFP photographer. The prefecture counts four wounded communicated by the emergency services. AFP the face bandaged and with a trickle of blood along the nose after a brief arrest. The prefect Emmanuelle Dubée also reported on Saturday evening six arrests at the end of this rally which brought together 4,000 people according to her, 7,000 according to the organizations. 1,500 gendarmes mobilized Ms. Dubée denounced the presence of “400 black-block profiles and very violent activists”, as well as “throwing molotov cocktails, mortar fire, powerful explosives, es projectiles”. With an area to cover of several hectares through cereal fields, the 1,500 mobilized gendarmes had difficulty in containing the crowd, in which hundreds of masked or hooded activists rubbed shoulders with families and many retirees. “Anti-bassine” activists, around fifty according to the prefecture, managed to force through the gates protecting the site and then briefly enter inside, before being repelled, noted an AFP journalist. “They were all repelled so the maneuver is a success”, concluded the prefect, recalling that the ban on demonstrating was still valid until Monday. After a tense face-to-face of about an hour at the edge of the reserve, the demonstrators turned around towards the field loaned by a peasant so that they could set up camp there near this site, which has become the new epicenter of a conflict over the use of water which is becoming scarce with global warming. Bassines Collective No M erci congratulated itself in a press release on having “succeeded in thwarting the ten roadblocks and entering the site” and affirming that it wanted to use this camp as a “base of support” to “continue to stop the site”. Exceptional drought Sainte-Soline is the second of a project of 16 substitution reserves developed by a group of 400 farmers gathered in the Coop de l’eau, to “reduce water withdrawals by 70%”, in this region still subject to irrigation restrictions after an extraordinary summer drought. These reserves are open-air craters, covered with a plastic sheet and filled by pumping water from surface groundwater in winter. They can store up to 650,000 m3 (i.e. 260 Olympic swimming pools) of water to irrigate in the summer. a few corn farmers”, denounced the MEP Yannick Jadot, present on the spot like other elected environmentalists, including the deputy Sandrine Rousseau. La France insoumise also supported this gathering. The Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, stressed on France inter that the “project had no negative consequences for the groundwater tables”, according to a recent report. According to this study by the Bureau of Geological and Mining Research (BRGM), the project could, compared to the period 2000-2011, increase “by 5% to 6%” the flow of rivers in summer, against a drop of 1% in winter, without taking into account the potential evaporation of future reserves, nor the threat of recurring droughts linked to global warming.Christophe Béchu also recalled that the “plan signed by everyone four years ago” after a long consultation between farmers, elected officials, authorities and associations, conditioned access to water to changes in practices (reduction of pesticides, planting of hedges, conversion to agroecology). But none of the ten farmers using the first reservoir “has subscribe reduction of pesticides”, according to Vincent Bretagnolle, member of the scientific and technical monitoring committee (CST) of the project, and since the signing, several associations have withdrawn from the protocol. With AFP