• The Gardanne coal plant has been occupied since Tuesday morning by employees, following a demonstration by the CGT.

  • The management of the factory lodged a complaint after this intrusion by hooded employees.

    Some according to her were equipped with telescopic batons or even bladed weapons.

This Tuesday, around six o'clock in the morning, about twenty hooded employees broke in to occupy the Gardanne coal-fired power station, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, after a demonstration by the CGT, according to a source familiar with the matter at

20 minutes.

Owned by the GazelEnergie group, the plant located near Aix-en-Provence is one of the last four coal-fired power plants in France, whose closure is scheduled for 2022 due to their negative impact on the climate.

At the end of July, the administrative court of Cergy-Pontoise had validated the Employment Protection Plan (PSE) providing for the elimination of 98 jobs out of 154, due to the cessation of coal.

Occupied site

According to this same source, individuals are still occupying the site at the time of this writing.

Damage was noted on the access doors, as well as tire and pallet lights.

Concrete blocks block the emergency exits.

No physical aggression is to be deplored.

In a press release, the management of the plant, owned by Gazel Energie, claims for its part to have been the victim of an intrusion of "80 employees", equipped with "telescopic batons, tear gas, baseball bats and 'cold steel ".

Management complaint

The management announced that it had lodged a complaint with the gendarmerie and asked the police to evacuate the site.

Contacted by AFP, the CGT disputes this version, and indicates that they have "put under protection" the factory.

According to the majority union, the departures of the first employees within the framework of the job protection plan had endangered “the safety of the site”, classified Seveso.

"No one is hooded and the labor inspectorate is on site," Nadir Hadjali, CGT representative, told AFP.

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  • Occupation