On the night of Wednesday 11 to Thursday 12 August 2021, a 23-ton excavator was set on fire on an archaeological excavation site linked to the reservoir project in Saint-Sauvant, a commune in the Vienne department located about four kilometres from the commune of Avon, in the Deux-Sèvres. The excavator belonged to the 2 Sévrienne Service company, located in Saint-Gelais.
The gendarmerie has opened an investigation for criminal damage. The Volvo machine was rented by the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP). The site had started on Monday 9 August 2021. The archaeologists were intervening before the construction of a water storage facility for agricultural irrigation: Saint-Sauvant is part of the project of 16 “reservoirs” to be built along the basin of the Sèvre Niortaise, a project that has been the subject of controversy since 2017.
On Friday 13 August 1021, the president of the Coop de l’Eau, Thierry Boudaud, “firmly denounced these malicious acts”. An investigation by the gendarmerie is underway but the theory of a voluntary act seems to be preferred”, he underlined.
The Coop de l’Eau is the company in charge of the water storage project, in which farmers who will be using it in the future are involved”. These malicious acts follow the acts of vandalism that took place last September on three farms in the Deux-Sévres region,” adds Thierry Boudaud. However, once again, this will not diminish our desire to continue the dialogue with all of our stakeholders to advance our project. In September 2020, irrigation equipment was the target of acts of vandalism on three farms in Aigondigné and Prahecq.
This week, the “Bassines, non merci!” collective posted a photo on its Facebook page of the mechanical shovel in Saint-Sauvant with a text starting: “Red alert. Start of works in Saint-Sauvant? Do Bassines, non merci! regret having sounded the alarm on social networks at the risk of someone acting on it? “We do not regret alerting: we pass information to citizens and the reaction of each citizen is up to them”, answers Julien Le Guet, spokesman of BNM, questioned on the subject by La Nouvelle République.
The collective explains that it has never opted for this type of action. But it does not denounce what happened in Saint-Sauvant either: “We take note. We don’t denounce. We announced it. This vandalism is not surprising, it corresponds to what we were saying: if there is forceful passage, the citizens will resist with their weapons, their means, their culture. We are ready to discuss around the table, but nobody is picking up the ball. We will continue to raise public awareness,” says Julien Le Guet.
BNM, which is planning a demonstration in Saint-Sauvant on Sunday 5 September 2021, also explains that it has no interest in blocking the intervention of archaeologists: “When archaeologists find things, it’s for the project owners that it’s not good.
This is the first time that the company 2 Sévrienne Service has lost a machine on a building site. We were afraid of this kind of thing,” explains David Fichet, the director. In fact, we had a second-hand machine on site. But this is the first time that one of our machines has been set on fire. It’s a big loss, between 800 and 1,000 euros’ operating loss per day, and a guy who no longer has a job. I’m not going to put a mechanical shovel back in and we won’t pay for night guards. We’re waiting to see what Inrap decides. The company has filed a complaint: the damage is estimated at 60,000 euros.
The prefect of Vienne sent a press release to the Poitiers edition of La Nouvelle République to “condemn” the act committed. The excavation site is now at a standstill.
On the night of Wednesday 11 to Thursday 12 August 2021, a 23-ton excavator was set on fire on an archaeological excavation site linked to the reservoir project in Saint-Sauvant, a commune in the Vienne department located about four kilometres from the commune of Avon, in the Deux-Sèvres. The excavator belonged to the 2 Sévrienne Service company, located in Saint-Gelais.