French police fired tear gas and stun grenades as they were pelted with stones during a dawn swoop to clear environmental campaigners and anarchists from a site in western France that has been planned as a new airport.
The site in Notre-Dame-des-Landes has been squatted for years by opponents of the plan to build a 580 million euro (US$712 million) airport, which the government decided to drop in January, telling the protesters to clear out by spring.
However, some of the motley group of eco-warriors, farmers and anti-capitalists, who had turned the area into a utopian experiment in autonomous living, demanded the right to stay put. About 100 were left.
In a statement, the protesters expressed anger over the destruction of their huts and shelters, vowing that they would not leave.
About 2,500 police took part in the evacuation, which authorities said started at 6am. Police already blocked surrounding roads as early at 3:30am, while protesters set fire to barricades and threw Molotov cocktails at the security forces, a reporter said.
One police officer sustained an eye injury and a protester was arrested, a police official said, adding that the clashes were sporadic and relatively minor.
“We want to put an end to a lawless zone,” the French Ministry of the Interior said in a statement.
“Illegal constructions must be brought down for things to come back to normal in Notre-Dame-des-Landes,” French Minister of the Interior Gerard Collomb told Europe 1 radio.
Plans for a “Great West” transatlantic gateway to France and Europe were first considered in the 1960s and the Notre-Dame-des-Landes site was identified in 1967, but the project stalled until being revived in 2000.
Supporters of the airport plan, designed to handle 4 million passengers each year initially, said it would have helped economic development in the Loire-Atlantique region.
An old, inner-city airport 30km to the south was congested and a security risk, they said.
However, opponents said it was too costly and environmentally damaging, and that there was another underutilised airport 110km to the north, near Rennes in Brittany.
Construction giant Vinci has said that it is ready to discuss government compensation for the loss of its contract to develop Notre-Dame-des-Landes.
STRIKES
In other developments, about 80 percent of French high-speed trains yesterday stood still as unions entered the fourth day of three months of periodic rolling strikes, have vowed to continue until at least June 28, unless the government backs down on its reform plan for the debt-laden French National Railway Corp (SNCF).
Just one in five high-speed trains were running and one in six on other mainline routes, while two-thirds of regional trains were cancelled. About 20 percent of Eurostar trains in and out of London have also been cancelled.
SNCF chief Guillaume Pepy told BFM television that the action has so far caused losses of about 20 million euros per strike day, although disruptions often spill into non-strike days.
Yesterday’s strike was scheduled to end at 8pm before resuming for another two-day stoppage on Friday.
Additional reporting by AFP and AP
BEYOND WASHINGTON: Although historically the US has been the partner of choice for military exercises, Jakarta has been trying to diversify its partners, an analyst said Indonesia’s first joint military drills with Russia this week signal that new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto would seek a bigger role for Jakarta on the world stage as part of a significant foreign policy shift, analysts said. Indonesia has long maintained a neutral foreign policy and refuses to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict or US-China rivalry, but Prabowo has called for stronger ties with Moscow despite Western pressure on Jakarta. “It is part of a broader agenda to elevate ties with whomever it may be, regardless of their geopolitical bloc, as long as there is a benefit for Indonesia,” said Pieter
‘SHARP COMPETITION’: Australia is to partner with US-based Lockheed Martin to make guided multiple launch rocket systems, an Australian defense official said Australia is to ramp up missile manufacturing under a plan unveiled yesterday by a top defense official, who said bolstering weapons stockpiles would help keep would-be foes at bay. Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said the nation would establish a homegrown industry to produce long-range guided missiles and other much-needed munitions. “Why do we need more missiles? Strategic competition between the United States and China is a primary feature of Australia’s security environment,” Conroy said in a speech. “That competition is at its sharpest in our region, the Indo-Pacific.” Australia is to partner with US-based weapons giant Lockheed Martin to make
US ELECTION: Polls show that the result is likely to be historically tight. However, a recent Iowa poll showed Harris winning the state that Trump won in 2016 and 2020 US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris courted voters angered by the Gaza war while former US President and Republican candidate Donald Trump doubled down on violent rhetoric with a comment about journalists being shot as the tense US election campaign entered its final hours. The Democratic vice president and the Republican former president frantically blitzed several swing states as they tried to win over the last holdouts with less than 36 hours left until polls open on election day today. Trump predicted a “landslide,” while Harris told a raucous rally in must-win Michigan that “we have momentum — it’s
TIGHT CAMPAIGN: Although Harris got a boost from an Iowa poll, neither candidate had a margin greater than three points in any of the US’ seven battleground states US Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in the final days before the election, as she and former US president and Republican presidential nominees make a frantic last push to win over voters in a historically close campaign. The first lines Harris spoke as she sat across from Maya Rudolph, their outfits identical, was drowned out by cheers from the audience. “It is nice to see you Kamala,” Harris told Rudolph with a broad grin she kept throughout the sketch. “And I’m just here to remind you, you got this.” In sync, the two said supporters