DIJON: The Lentillères made their carnival “so that the fight continues”
The free district of Lentillères celebrates its twelve years of existence. A carnival took place in the streets of the city this Thursday, May 26 to launch festivities until Sunday around the actions continued on the grounds of the self-managed space.
Having been formed twelve years ago in opposition to constructions within the framework of phase 2 of the eco-district of Maraîchers carried by the City of Dijon, the free district of Lentillères takes advantage of the Ascension weekend to display its “10 + 2 years” for the return of its spring festival and organizes four days of festivities on the illegally occupied land, on which several activities and actions of social and political commitment have been developed.
This Thursday, May 26, 2022, the appointment was given for a carnival. More than 400 people gathered at the gates of the free district, rue Amiral-Pierre and rue Philippe-Guignard, before leaving to march through the city. Musical tunes and even fireworks punctuated the progress of the procession in a good atmosphere.
The strolling and the speeches deployed on the Place du 1er-Mai were not possible because of the roadblocks of the police deployed around the police station at the level of the Place Suquet, it is ultimately not close of the International City of Gastronomy and Wine but on the small square in front of the Saint-Joseph school group that the occupants of the free district of Lentillères expressed themselves.
“We will not let go of the self-managed and anti-capitalist aspect of our spaces”
“Contrary to the luxurious and stilted inaugurations of the town hall, we will not let go of the self-managed and anti-capitalist aspect of our spaces”, they declared, recalling that the approach cultivated at Lentillères “makes political sense for a whole bunch of people” and always positioning itself so that the free district of Lentillères becomes a zone of communal ecology. A platform is also put forward by activists and defenders of this space (find the press release by clicking here).
“Mr. Rebsamen said that he is open to dialogue but he continues to threaten this neighborhood by saying, for example, that two of the eight hectares of this neighborhood could return to concrete. It threatens gardeners, gardens, a BMX field, a bakery, a popular canteen, a pétanque field, ”protested Gaëlle. By insisting: “There are ways of organizing together which are a real reality. We, we build in Lentillères, huts, houses, with a reflection on the materials”.
With these festivities, the free district wants to show the municipality that sorting out the proposed activities and therefore the dreaded destruction of some “is not acceptable”. The idea of the carnival, called wild by its organizers themselves, was also to export itself to the city and take to the streets. “A way of reminding meditators that we too are part of this city! “.
A program is concocted at the Lentillères and its protagonists intend “that the party lasts and that the fight continues! “. They were invited for the occasion of the activists of the cause Venus of Vaites in Besançon, of Liege in Belgium, and elsewhere.
Alix Berthier
Photos: Alix Berthier