"Whatever the name of this collective, we are the weed that will continue to grow for the common good," Mathilde Peyrache, 39, secretary of the Sud Solidaires 44 union in Loire-Atlantique, told AFP.

Several unions (CGT, FSU, Solidaires) participated in the rally in Nantes where many activists, marked by the long struggle against the airport project in Notre-Dame-Des-Landes finally abandoned, are particularly sensitive to this dissolution in the context of the ongoing climate crisis.

"The Earth Uprisings are the only chance for our generation to get out of it," said Esther Le Cordier, 19, an anthropology student and member of the movement. "We won't be able to stop our anger because we can't tell young people that it's going to be okay. This is scientifically false," she added.

A protester during the demonstration in support of the association Les Soulèvements de la Terre in Nantes on June 21, 2023 © LOIC VENANCE / AFP

The members of the Nantes support committee announce new gatherings in France on June 28 and call for action in "a thousand ways" in the coming period.

Several dozen rallies were scheduled Wednesday night throughout the France in support of the collective, accused of violence by the government.

In Lille, about 200 people also gathered in front of the prefecture.

"The uprisings are civil society reacting to the climate emergency and it does not correspond to the economic interest of the government," Martin Stachowicz, 23, a student at Sciences Po, told AFP.

Demonstration in support of the association Les Soulèvements de la Terre in Nantes on June 21, 2023 © LOIC VENANCE / AFP

For Valérie Maniglier, 55, unemployed with disabled status, "a group that says that the destruction of the environment, it must stop, it obviously supports itself".

In Toulouse, between 200 and 300 people gathered, an AFP photographer found. Among them, several members of the collective +La voie est libre+, opposed to the construction of the motorway to link Castres to the Pink City, according to which, instead of "acting in the face of climate change, (...) the state prefers to break the thermometer."

© 2023 AFP