The evening before the « Seme ta ZAD » demonstration* , the crossroads of Fosses Noires St and the Chemin de Suez was freed from the presence of riot police.
During 2 days, the central crossroads spontaneously returned to its previous state : a road to travel, a place where we can happen upon friends or strangers, exchange news , meet . These past two days, the ZAD was crossed by hundreds of people with garden tools in hand.
Sunday, we had a party for the end of the military occupation. Is it just a dream, or is it the reality of the coming days ?
For the past 141 days, we, the inhabitants of center ZAD, have been trapped by two blockades of military police. Blue is a part of our daily lives, we don’t have a single morning, afternoon or evening free from their presence, free from identity controls, being searched, being humiliated. We can’t choose to avoid it : we have to take our children to school, and some of us have to go to work. The time of riding bikes is over, as is that of taking calm walks, visiting the neighbors and spending time with friends that no longer dare to come. The place where we and our children live has silently become a prison, ever since December 15, 2012.
So, should we continue to submit without reaction even though there is no legitimacy in their presence ? We don’t think so ! We must pick our heads up, unite, and refuse this farce !
The official pretext to block the crossroads has never prevented food, cooking gas, flammable materials (for barricades and ammunition) or construction materials from getting into the zone. The real objective is to give the impression that they control this place, to make the situation unbearable while trying to contain the struggle to the physical boundaries of the ZAD, to make psychological pressure and create a constant repression and a permanant atmosphere of tension. When we finally crack during an identity control and show how we just can’t take it anymore, the police systematically respond « Then why don’t you just leave ? » This represents another, more insidious kind of eviction, when even the dialogue comission** asked for an end to police actions while they were in discussion…
Their little joke of a dialogue comission has come to an end, so now the conclusion should be clear : either they kick us out or they fuck off !
It’s obvious to us that we won’t let ourselves be occupied in this way any longer : if they come back to our place, we’ll go see them at theirs !
Several months ago, there was a callout to occupy places of power in case of an attack on the ZAD. The surface of la ZAD is inhabited everywhere, and you don’t live in a place without roads, fields, or the links that they create. Thus we consider the military reoccupation of this crossroads would be a direct attack on our living place. As a result, we call out for decentralized actions, whether they be occupations of places of power or strategic crossroads, or all other types of actions that people feel pertinent !
Some resisting inhabitants
This text was collectively written yesterday, during a joyeous picnic that lasted all afternoon and into the night. We celebrated taking back the crossroads together, to meet in a place where we spent every day of the last five months being blocked, inconvenienced, and humiliated, feeling powerless, being followed by spotlights while crossing the fields on the way home from a meeting at night.
It was a moment of strength, spontaneously organized, with several kitchens, a sound system, tractors bringing loads of people, the road being dug up to slow the cars, building chicanes*** and cabins in the road, dancing, singing, and a moment of discussion, making sure that the milk truck and the school bus can pass, deciding how to protect this place and what to do if the police eventually take it back.
This morning around 8am, the police were posted about a mile south of the crossroads, and a group of people went to harrass them, who then got shot at with tear gas and concussion grenades. They fought for a short while and then the police followed them until right before the crossroads and started destroying the chicanes, running through the neighbor’s garden. Then they started fighting again, about 40 people in black with rocks, molotovs and fireworks against 20 pigs with rubber bullets, concussion grenades, and tear gas grenades. Two police officers were separated from the rest and got thrown in the ditch and beaten with their own batons. Then one took a molotov to the head and by a happy accident of gravity his whole upper body caught on fire.
They took the crossroads in less than half an hour but the fighting went on until about 2pm, there were about 10 people wounded by rubber bullets and 4 by shrapnel from concussion grenades. 5 people were arrested. The police are still at the crossroads and already people are responding to the callout, this afternoon there were protests in front of the police headquarters in 16 cities.
This time their military occupation won’t pass calmly and it won’t pass in silence. Spread the word and take action !
More info at http://zad.nadir.org
*a demonstration/workday to start new collective agricultural projects (gardens, grains, bees, orchards)
**political parties discussing between themselves about the airport project, such a farce of democracy that even the local organizations boycotted it
***barricades that only take half the road, they slow the cars down but let traffic pass, they can quickly be closed if need be
Source : http://anarchistnews.org/content/fighting-crossroads-military-occupation-continues-la-zad