A nun in France attacked an environmental protester outside of a newly constructed religious center on Saturday, according to reports.
In the now-viral video, one of the sisters from the Missionary Family of Notre-Dame tackled a member of the climate group, Les Amis de la Bourges, which translates to ‘Friends of the Village.”
The eco group was protesting the building of a new religious complex in Saint-Pierre-de-Colombier by stomping on the building materials. They argue that the construction threatens several rare plant species in the area.
“I didn’t expect that,” said co-president of the association for the future of the Bourges valley Sylvain Hérenguel. “I expected the nuns to be a little reasonable for the public order. The problem is that the religious people decided to resort to violence. I was attacked three times by five people, who snatched me, who wanted to throw me out there. They decided to protect the site with their actions and their bodies.”
“There is reseda of jackfruit noted by the French Biodiversity Office. And it is not in the environmental study on which the Prefect relied to restart the construction site. They do not have authorization to destroy the habitats of protected species,” Hérenguel continued.
Construction on the project got under way in December 2018 with the goal of building a basilica with a capacity of 3,500 people. Since then, there has been a lot of opposition to development from environmental groups, including multiple demonstrations to stop the work.
“Our environmental defense collective is calling for the suspension of the construction site until all environmental authorizations have been obtained. The Notre Dame Missionary Family is a traditionalist Catholic religious congregation. The congregation has the goal to build a large-scale religious complex in this small village of 400 inhabitants. A ‘chapel’ with 3,500 seats! It is an arrogant project for a religious community,” the group said in a statement.
The wave of climate protests prompted an outcry from government officials and religious groups, who both condemned the practice. University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann shared his insights on why these types of demonstrations could hurt their cause.
“[Vandalism] alienates many people we need to bring into the fold. People who are natural allies in the climate battle but will draw negative associations with climate advocacy and activism from such acts,” Mann said.
