Paris (AFP)

Hundreds of environmental activists occupied Saturday evening part of a Paris shopping center, according to AFP journalists, despite an attempt by law enforcement to dislodge them on the first day of a week of action for the climate of the Extinction Rebellion (XR) movement.

Hundreds of protesters, including members of XR have invested Saturday around 10:00 in the quiet shopping mall Italy 2, with its 130 shops and restaurants in the south-east of Paris.

A little after 8:00 pm, closing time of the center, the police ordered them to leave the premises, said activists to AFP.

According to images broadcast live on social networks, police then tried to enter the building, while activists inside barricaded certain entrances with tables or chairs.

Others sat on the floor holding umbrellas open above their heads, like pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

The intervention was then interrupted, and around 22:00, the police were posted around, and hundreds of militants still occupied the mall, according to AFP journalists.

Arrived at the end of the morning, they explained to want to occupy a "symbol of capitalism", as a prelude to a week of international actions of XR.

Equipped with harnesses, they hoisted on the large canopy at the entrance several banners proclaiming, "Let us destroy the palaces of power, let us build the houses of the people" and "Nature is not for sale, social and popular ecology".

"Work, consume and shut your mouth", "A-ha anti-capitalist", could we hear especially among the slogans of protesters, the sound of drums, or "And one and two and three degrees is a crime against humanity ".

"I am with XR to say stop to this crazy system before it destroyed everything", said to AFP a girl of about twenty years, who presents herself as Lucie and did not mean his age.

In addition to XR, various collectives had joined the action, such as Youth for Climate, Brain Not Available, Radiaction, Queer Independence Committee and "yellow vests", according to a representative of XR who does not want to be identified. Jerome Rodrigues, one of the figures of the movement of "yellow vests", made an appearance.

The operation, dubbed "Last occupation before the end of the world", takes place while Extinction Rebellion, a movement created barely a year ago, organizes from Monday actions in 60 cities around the world that should gather thousands of people, including blocking actions in London, planned to last more than two weeks.

© 2019 AFP