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Timeline

Sunday 12 February 2012

All the versions of this article: [English] [français] [italiano]

This article attempts to provide a timeline of the campaign against the proposed new airport near Nantes. Actions and events described below are not all conducted by occupants of ZAD, but we support all the different tactics and we are in solidarity with everyone involved in this struggle.

(Note: translation may be far from perfect)

January 2013

02 Bel-Air (recently sold) is reoccupied. The cops evict in the evening, gas the house... and then leave. Then the house gets re-squatted.

December 2012

29 Demo in front of the prison in Carquefou: more than 250 people, sound system and fireworks in solidarity with all the prisoners.

27 The Secherie is legally evictable

21 First day of negotiations that have no legitimacy between the green party and the socialist party.

19 Vinci worksite occupied in Rennes. Another comrade sentenced to 2 months in prison.

17 Fighting at the Moulin de Rohanne crossroads (by La Saulce)

15 Beginning of meetings of the local committes (of solidarity). Anti-repression demo in Nantes with around 3,000 people

11 Occupation of some land and a hangar and construction of a greenhouse. The TGI judge in St. Nazaire, after being asked by the police headquarters, authorizes the demolition of the cabins at La Chat Teigne with the support of the police 08 5,000 protesters in Nantes against “big useless projects”

04 Trial for the cabins at the Chat Teigne

November 2012

28 A comrade is sentenced to 6 months of prison, with another 5 months suspended sentence. He is charged with “violence with a weapon, carrying weapons of the 6th category (a pocketknife), and participating in an armed and masked group”. Two other comrades have suspended sentences and are banned from the region for two years.

26 Fighting near the Far Ouest, 3 people arrested by cops behind a barricade disguised in black block.

24 The police came in Rohanne Forest to destroy the cabins on the ground and in the trees, that had been rebuilt for the 5th time. More than 500 people gathered in the tear gas clouds in the forest to use diverse ways of resisting. Demo against “the airport and the world that goes with it” in Nantes. Between 7,000 and 10,000 people show up, when the demo passes the police headquarters it spontaneously stops to yell at the police who are stationed to protect it. They retaliate by turning their fire hoses on the crowd. The crowd yells “Free la ZAD” “The people are rising up” and “Ayrault should quit”

23 The Chat Teigne is invaded by the forces of order to interrupt the “illegal constructions”. All the construction material and 11,000 euros worth of tools are confiscated. The chief of police announces that the cabins will be sealed as evidence (which didn’t happen). The Rosier, the first house squatted on the zone, is evicted and destroyed after some beautiful days of resistance and farmer solidarity.

17-22 Construction continues at La Chat Teigne and in the Rohanne Forest next door.

17 Reoccupation demo (called for by squatters and collectives in solidarity). The demo was organized by general assemblies of more than 150/200 people, based on a proposition that has been developed over the past year. 40,000 people participated in the construction of a new place for opponents of the project to meet and also to organize the struggle on the ZAD. It’s called La Chat Teigne.

11 Street-Crépes-Party on the D281

10 Demo in Rennes (3,000 people)

08 Half barricades built the length of the D281

07 Fighting at the Sabot

05 New evictions in the Rohan Forest

04 Continuation of archeological digs on the east side of the ZAD

02 Moving out, squatting and eviction of Le Tertre

October 2012

31 Le Sabot, Cent Chenes, and Rohan Forest (Big Forest) evicted. A cop is injured when he cuts the treehouse platform from beneath his feet and falls out of a tree

30 eviction of La Saulce and fighting all day long around the barricades. Farmer and countryside people demonstrate at Le Sabot.

29 a baliff came to Le Sabot and Farouezt

27 and 28 reclaim the streets party, occupation, and barricading of the crossroads in front of the saulce (D81)

October 2012

26 : verdict of the "juge d’exécution des peines" about the eviction dates of La Saulce, Le Rosier and La Sècherie : Le Rosier has délai until the 15th ofnovember and La Sécherie until the 27th december !!!

25 : Work to remove the aspestos continues at Le Liminbout (more work, some more aspestos appeard during thenight!)

24 : Work to remove the aspestos / demolition at Le Liminbout stopped for a moment by the "inspection du travail" (the people who check if the workers are in good conditions) ; la Pointe un-briked up during the night

23 : Destruction of La Gaité

22nd : Destruction of the house occupied friday near La Sècherie and destruction of the roof of the house adjoining to La Sècherie

21st : Destruction of 2 houses : L’Après Faillite & St-Jean-du-Tertre

20th : Demo in Nantes in the morning with about 1500 people and in La Paquelais in the afternoon with a hundred people

19th : Eviction and destruction of Le Coin and l’Isolette ; reoccupation of a house near la Sècherie

18th : La Pointe evicted and bricked up, destruction of cabins on the grouns in the Lande de Rohanne (The Big forest).

17th : Destruction of the houses Les Planchettes and Le Tertre

16th : Eviction of La Bellishroot, La Gaité, Les Planchettes, Bel Air, Le Tertre, Pré Failli, L’après Faillite and Saint-Jean du Tertre.

13th Festive occupation of a house at Le Liminbout.

8th Around 7am, eviction at Grandchamps-des-Fontaines, at the eastern verge of the ZAD.

July 2012

20th About 80 military cops coming with a bailff and 5 grim experts went in at least five of the occupied houses, pretexting to check for "lead, aspestos and protected spieces". They took that opportunity to get their bearings and take someone to custody.

19th Pick-nick for the eviction trial of Le Sabot and Les Cent Chênes.

June 2012

27th Vetdict of the 5 defendents for a visit to a VINCI building at Couëron (suburb of Nantes) as part of the struggle against the airport. They got a fine for "deterioration causing small dammages", and for refusing to give DNA and have to pay court costs.

25 AGO and experts from a company (about demolition) showed up at two squatted houses (Le Tertre and Bel Air) to go in. They had a warrent to enter the house.

21st A group of 250 persons tries to block the first day of the public enquiery. One person is taken in custody and his tractor taken from him.

20th A security guard is seen on the ZAD at 2am trying to take notes of the numbers of the passing cars.

19th The judge in charge of expropriations comes on the ZAD, a few actions actions are made to block him.

9th Nantes : Demo against the airport project.

1st La Rochelle : Meeting of Jean-Marc Ayrault (ex. maire of Nantes, prime minister) beeing "briefly perturbated".

May 2012

28 Free peage at Toulouse for the eviction of a Social center and in solidarity to resistances at Notre-Dame-des-Landes and of the Lyon-Turin high speed train project.

15th AGO begins the public enquierie about the airport’s highway.

15th Cops teargazed an occupied house when people living there were not there.

3rd the construction workers of the extention of the highway between two local towns, Vigneux qnd Squrton, announced that they welcomed the sabotage of the constructionsite.

April 2012

20th Noise in front of the meeting of the Socialist Party in Vendée.

17th Tracts been given out in Nantes for the international day of farmer struggles.

12th Perturbation of a meeting of the Socialist Party at Bressuire (France)

11th Two farmers from Notre-Dame-des-Landes begin a hunger strike in front of the préfecture (the police headquarters).

5th - A bailiff passed by almost all of the pieces of land occupied by people in cabins, tents, vans and caravans. He photos sometime, sometimes asked for the name of the people living there (which were never given), sometimes asked nothing. All this under the pretexte of working for land registry, verifying if the land is occupied, evaluating the « sanitary conditions », of the living space, all the while playing the role of the simple worker who happily carries out his filthy job...

January 2012

24th - The chairman of the trial court has summoned eight land owners, who are still refusing to sell their land. One hundred demonstrators gather in support and try to obstruct the visiting judge.

6th - Anti-airport campaigners hold a protest on the Place Royal square . They have previously protested outside the town hall, the General Council, Talensac, and the Socialist Party.

December 2011

15th Action against Vinci in Guingamp and additional protests outside Vinci offices.

12th Les Machines De L’ile are against the airport

10th A walk in the countryside to pull up survey markers.

8th Banners against Vinci are hung over the ring road of Nantes in solidarity with the accused of Poitiers

7th Office of the region’s General Council is targeted

6th Landowners lose an appeal against the order of transferability of their land. The ACIPA called for a rally before the court.

4th Toll booth action on the Vinci-owned highway from Paris to Angers

1st Raids by cops in the town of Couëron and on the ZAD (6 arrests)

November 2011

22nd Vinci gets the ’Pinocchio’ prize in the Friends of the Earth "Greener than Green" awards.

19th Local Green Party building is decorated because of their policies.

19th A walk in the countryside to remove the markers of surveyors

12th Demonstration in Paris with between 3,000 and 4,000 demonstrators. Here is the text that was read at the rally afterwards.

6th Tractorvelo Notre-Dame-des-Landes - Paris against the airport project organized by the coordination of groups opposing the airport.

5th New squat opened in Poitiers with banner "Vinci, out of our lives". Evicted without process and 47 people arrested.

October 2011

31 The bailiffs brings the order to vacate. We must leave by Jan. 2nd although there may be a winter ’truce’.

27th The bailiff brings the trial transcript of Nantes

21th The ’ultralégumes’ do a press conference .

20th Trial heard regarding squats on the territory of Nantes.

20th Action at offices of Vinci in town of Coëron

13th Fake bomb found in archaeological excavations

11th Rampage at the Socialist Party federation of Haute-Garonne

11th Gathering at the public inquiry at Notre Dame Des Landes

11th Farmer refuses access to his field

11th In the Basque Country, the office building Vinci tagged in solidarity with ZAD

5th Surprise drilling work takes place on the ZAD

3rd Anti-airport protest at NDDL

1st Sabotage action against Vinci in Switzerland (Switzerland)

September 2011

29th The cops deliver the court papers from Saint-Nazaire

27th A campaign is launched showing the links between the Socialist Party, Vinci and Veolia.

20th Trial takes place regarding squats on the territory of Saint-Nazaire.

15th Eviction trial hearing takes place while a demonstration takes place outside.

3th Leafleting in Nantes following the repression of 2/09

2nd Trees occupied in the Mercoeur square in Nantes.

August 2011

28th Biotope and accompanying cops are prevented from leaving the ZAD by a barricade. They wait for reinforcements and are delayed by 3 hours.

26th Action against Vinci in Paris in solidarity with the defenders of the Khimki forest in Russia.

24th Leafleting and a picnic in solidarity with 4 people charged with ransacking the Socialist Party election caravan.

24th The coordination against the airport condemns the violence. Apparently not only the Socialist Party was attacked but also the Greens.

22th The Socialist Party election caravan was ransacked by about thirty people.

17th Protest in St. Nazaire during the trial for evictions (see call out for this action).

15th An attempted action at the toll booths at Bignon, south of Nantes, is stopped by the cops.

15th Free Toll action in Montpellier against Vinci

13th Free toll action in Vendée against the proposed airport NDDL.

11th Report of the trial in Nantes on September 15

4th Allies of the Socialist Party, the Socialist Federation, have one of their offices tagged by protesters in La Roche-sur-Yon (in the Vendée region).

July 2011

31st Two improvised ’explosives’ at Vinci construction site in Sautron

30th Several actions against bailiffs

28th A demonstration takes place at the Nantes-Atlantique airport with between 150 and 200 people. They attempt to paint the building with slogans and are attacked by police. (indymedia report)

20th About 40 people take part in a critical mass from ZAD to Nantes and unsuccessfully attempted to block the ring road after distributing leaflets against the airport in the city center.

19th Night time actions against estate agency involved in compulsory expropriation of remaining houses on the ZAD and the company contracted to carry out environmental impact assessments. Car tires slashed, locks glued, slogans painted.

16th Visit to the headquarters of biotope in the Herault. The headquarters of the company had locks glued and its frontage painted with slogans. In the same street, the doorstep of one of the founding owners was left inscribed with "we found you! ".

8th A camp against the G8/G20 is taking place on the ZAD. It will last three weeks and will be the starting point for meetings, discussions, actions against the airport, as well as creating new settlements on the ZAD.

8th The coordination of groups opposing the airport project organized three days of resistance against the airport.

6th AGO applied for permits to demolish some of the squatted houses on the ZAD.

June 2011

15th A Vinci parking site is targeted - cables cut, motors trashed and walls tagged.

15th The Chamber of Agriculture is blocked. The farmers’ federation called the rally which was attended by two hundred peasants and other protesters.

10th Occupation of a site Vinci

6th Confrontations with the police during the drilling of the ZAD

5th Fondasol withdraws from the airport project after being targeted by actions.

May 2011

25th Five people were found guilty of "violence in a meeting" after a practical joke involving whipped cream on paper plates on 26th April. Another was implicated for posting a video of the action on the internet. The cops obtained the IP address of the poster from the hosting company and arrested the person living at the address linked to that IP at the time. The person pied, Claude Bricaud, had been elected deputy mayor of Nantes in 2008 and had just been defeated. Everyone was sentenced to a 150 euro suspended fine, one euro for Mr Bricaud and 600 euros in court costs.

12th Surveyors come to draw samples from the soil. Against the technicians with their escort of cops and bailiffs, 80 cows and a hundred cowboys and cowgirls attempt to prevent them from drilling at the proposed site of the control tower of the airport project.

7th Manif’-occupation against the airport

April 2011

28th Biotope receives a visit!

March 2011

30th Appeal trial against two activists opposing the airport who took action against soil sampling in 2007

26th The deputy mayor of Nantes is pied in the public square in the center of Nantes. Shouting "Not to the airport!" The video is on the internet .

19th Following a rally on ZAD, a new place of resistance was opened near the village of Grand’haie.

February 2011

28th Several associations under the aegis of the ACIPA (Solidarity ecology, ... Peasant Confederation), the community of communes of Erdre Gesvres and Europe Ecology and file a legal action against the concession decree signed on 28 December 2010 by Prime Minister, the state making the Vinci airport concessionaire current and that of Notre Dame.,

14th On land proposed for the airports new roads, fifteen digs are started. It’s Valentine’s Day. Demonstrators offer broken hearts to the riot fcops that block access. Hearts of stone, the state officials did not burst into tears.

January 2011

10th The mayor of Nantes began his traditional tour around neighborhoods of Nantes. Paper airplanes decorated with slogans disrupt his speech. Slogans, whistles, leaflets, two banners. Twenty scattered troublemakers recall the disaster of the city’s development policy and destructive airport project. The ceremony is rushed to completion and half a dozen police cars are called in as reinforcements.

December 2010

3th alphacoms company is contracted for propaganda

March 2010

1st Bulldozer bike against the airport

2010

A chronicle of 2010 which has yet to be built in this column can be found on indymedia nantes

August 2009

Camp for Climate Action is organized on the ZAD. Among the actions is an occupation of the existing airport to Nantes.

February 2008

Declaration of Public Utility (DUP) reported for 10 years. 1650 ha area. The DUP gives a right of expropriation preemption. During two years the state has to buy if an owner wants to sell.

2007

The Rosier is squatted. The first squat on the ZAD.

2004

End of the preemptive right of the General Council. The purchases of land and buildings are in mutual agreement with the owner only.

2000

Creation of the Citizens’ Association of Intermunicipal Populations affected by the proposed Airport

1988

End of the decree of ZAD. Mayors can now give their agreement or disagreement with the CG for the redemption of land and buildings.

1974

Decree of ZAD (Deferred Development Zone) Area: 1200 ha (the town of Heric is no longer relevant). The General Council (GC) has first refusal for seven years, renewable one time.

Preemption: When selling land or buildings the CG is the first to be bought back. Inheritance is always possible.

1972

We discover in the papers the existence of the airport project. Municipalities affected by the project: Notre Dame, Vigneux, Grandchamps, Heric, The Temple. Area: 1,350 Ha.

Creation of the Defence Association Concerned with the Airport Operators (ADECA)