Around 50 activists occupy forest in Ballens VD
Published: Saturday, Jun 15th 2024, 17:30
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Several dozen activists occupied the forest in Ballens in the canton of Vaud on Saturday. They are demanding a law from the cantonal government to protect the area and a moratorium on the opening of new quarries.
According to a count by a Keystone-SDA reporter, around 50 activists set up tents and erected several platforms in the trees on Saturday afternoon. With their action, the Grondement des terres (rumbling of the earth) movement wants to prevent "a new hole in the foot of the Vaud Jura", according to a statement on Saturday.
The Holcim and Orlatti companies have been fighting over this forest for years. At 18.5 million cubic meters, it contains the largest sand and gravel deposit in the canton. The large corporations could hope to make billions in profit from the extraction.
It was not initially clear how long the protest action would last. However, it is said to be the legacy of the ZAD, the protest movement that occupied Mormont Hill in Eclépens in 2020 and 2021.
"It is high time to pull the emergency brake on the destructive and environmentally harmful concrete industry," the movement's statement continues. It is also disappointed with the counter-proposal to the Mormont Initiative, which was presented by the State Council on Thursday. It does not include any ambitious and realistic measures to reduce the use of gravel as a building material.
Last year, the movement vandalized several golf courses and spent several weeks in a forest on the banks of the Venoge in the Vaud municipality of Vufflens-la-Ville to denounce the potential use of the land as a gravel deposit by the Orllati company.
©Keystone/SDA
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