Toulouse, France: Summary of the arrests, convictions and sentences from recent ZAD demos

“In Toulouse like elsewhere the state imprisons” – Toulouse, May 2012

About the arrestees, convictions and those locked-up from the November and February ZAD demonstrations in Toulouse. A call for solidarity.

Whilst there is currently a campaign of international solidarity and also against the conviction of a single demonstrator from November, it seems important to us to sum up the verdicts and bring forward our modest point of view about the situation. And call widely for solidarity from all.

To recall, the November demonstrations started with the death of a young man [Rémi Fraisse, October 25th 2014]. On the ZAD of Testet there were people saying that one day or another the wild, legal and determined action from the state forces will finish badly. For many the emotion was strong, as we could have been in his place. The identification with him was not the same, when some days earlier, in the centre of Toulouse, a BAC cop [anti-crime brigade] killed a youth during a robbery.

Demonstrations started from Sunday October 25th, but it was only from November 1st that the repression became systematic in Toulouse.

Of what we know, we counted :

1st of November, 16 people arrested;
8th of November, 21 people arrested;
22th of November, 17 arrests, 18 if you count the person arrested the following Tuesday during support gatherings at the court.
21st of February, 13 people charged.

There were a total of at least:

6 people imprisoned of which 4 are still behind bars in Seysses [Toulouse]
47 months of imprisonment
34 months of suspended sentences
860 hours of community service
€5000 of fines
€10,450 of costs for the cops
€2,400 for the cop’s lawyers (February only)
€45,500 of costs for property damage

68 persons in total were arrested during these demos. Some of them were released without charges or conditionally discharged. Without counting the repression against the ZAD and against the demonstrations in Tarn [region of the Sivens ZAD] (where there were 41 arrestees).

(the figures given here are subject to change given the various hearings to come and convictions that will be missed by our monitoring)

We don’t want to fall tempted to the idea that these are new and uncommon acts. We have seen the militarisation of the police, their systematic utilisation in the lower class neighbourhoods, the use of clashes and aggression, that fatally causes mutilation, injury and death. This is not an excess or an accident. This is the consequential logic of social order. We believe we have to organize solidarity and arm our defence, facing the practical problems in our struggles posed to us by the justice system, the police, and its weapons. We have to make the link between the everyday repression of illegal crimes and the repression against our struggles. We have to finish with the idea that the police are doing a good job when not represses us. The police, the justice, the prison are instruments which make social destruction possible.

We have sent (and will continue to send) money to people incarcerated; generally we financially help people accused in these kind of cases. It is a heavy load for us so we call for widespread solidarity. You can help up by sending donations written out to “C.A.J” (nothing else) or CAJ c/o Canal sud 40 rue Alfred Duméril, 31200 Toulouse (France).

Legal Aid Self-Defence Fund Toulouse
Email: caj31[at]riseup.net

in Italian