- Local residents have filed a complaint against X for heavy metal pollution from an old factory in Marseille.
- Julie Andrieu, the plaintiffs' lawyer, explains that she wants to "roll up the thread of responsibilities".
At the foot of the Calanques National Park in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), turquoise water sparkles. But behind the postcard image, residents are worried about heavy metal pollution inherited from a former industrial site closed in 2009.
They are fifty, sign in hand, to have gathered this Tuesday on the steps of the courthouse in Marseille, before filing a complaint against X with the prosecutor for "endangering the lives of others".
"Go up the line of responsibilities"
"If this complaint does not target anyone in particular, it is intended to raise the thread of responsibilities of public authorities, from the town hall to the prefecture, via the department, and the owners of polluted sites", explains Julie Andrieu, the Counsel for the complainants: six neighborhood and environmental associations as well as 22 residents. "This pollution has been well known to public authorities for years, but nothing has been done to clean up the site," said the lawyer.
The Legré Mante factory, established since 1784 in La Madrague-de-Montredon, a district in the south of Marseille, manufactured tartaric acid used mainly in the wine, food and pharmaceutical sectors, until its judicial liquidation in 2009. Since then, the presence of arsenic, mercury, trichlorethylene or asbestos at levels exceeding the recommended thresholds have been noted on the site, claim the complainants.
"This pollution cannot be seen"
Acquired by the Swiss investment fund Ginkgo, specializing in the rehabilitation of polluted sites, the former industrial area is the subject of a construction project for apartment buildings. “We are not against these constructions but we would like to be associated with the project and informed of the works which make us fear an even greater exposure to pollution. We cannot be satisfied with their commitment not to work on windy days ”, deplores Lionel Thierriaz, a resident.
The problem with "this pollution is that it cannot be seen. Bathers come every day to lie down on crassiers (residues coming from metallurgical factory) because they see only the paradisiac image ”, underlines Me Andrieu.
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- Calanques
- Marseille
- Factory
- Complaint
- Pollution
- Justice