French police put up a cordon around the shareholder meeting of the oil company TotalEnergies in Paris, spraying tear gas and pushing back climate protesters who shouted: ‘Be nice, police officers, we are doing this for your children. !». The shareholders, some of them under police escort, had to contend with peaceful, earnest and mostly young protesters who waved placards attacking the climate balance sheet of the French energy giant, which reaped colossal profits from the surges of the prices that accompanied the war in Ukraine.
“The Last Pipeline Before the End of the World,” “Listen to the Scientists: No More Fossil Projects,” read their placards. Protesters sat down in the surrounding streets and linked arms to block access to the gathering at a popular Paris concert hall. Police officers picked up some protesters to move them. They sprayed tear gas from canisters to make people back away.
The burning of coal, oil, natural gas and biomass is responsible for air pollution which, according to researchers, kills 1.2 million people annually worldwide and is behind the climate crisis causing deadly climate extremes, hunger, deaths from the heat, migrations and environmental destruction. The UN chief has called for an end to the exploration of new fossil fuels and for rich countries to abandon coal, oil and gas by 2040.
Citing the protests, TotalEnergies had told shareholders in advance that they could vote remotely. Protesters arrived hours before the assembly, at dawn, to try to prevent it from taking place. From there, the standoff with the police was born. “We have no choice but to be here whenever we are,” said protester Camille Etienne.