the exasperation of mayors in the face of the multiplication of ZADs

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In Sainte-Soline, in October 2022, activists are preparing for their anti-basin action. In France, the Ministry of the Interior has identified around forty protest sites that could lead to ZADs. PASCAL LACHENAUD/AFP

INVESTIGATION – Active or ephemeral, historic or about to appear, these illegally occupied protest zones worry local elected officials. The mayors are impatiently awaiting the action of the Ministry of the Interior, which will set up an “anti-ZAD cell”, effective next September.

In France, some of our villages are institutions. From Monet’s garden, in Giverny, to the cliffs of Étretat, ping by the medieval city with the seven bell towers of Belvès, we marvel at these exceptional places. “We are known for hosting the ZAD which serves as a reference on a national and even international level”blows an elected official from one of the municipalities of the former “zone to defend” against the Grand Ouest airport project, in Our Lady of the Landes. “The zadists don’t even have a fight to fight anymore: the project has been abandoned and yet they remain”, breathes Gwënola Franco, mayor of Vigneux-de-Bretagne. A neighbor adds: “Notre-Dame-des-Landes is a bit like the headquarters of the zadists of France. Year-round, there are around a hundred illegal occupants.”

But, when the good weather arrives, continues Gwënola Franco, the workforce doubles, “at least”. The disturbances intensify. Rave parties, too. “It is not an inactive ZADshe insists. It’s durable and, frankly…