Freedom News

France: Lyon squat evicted in 7am raid

After months of threats from oil supergiant TotalEnergies, the abandoned school on Jean Bouin street was cleared out by a huge police operation yesterday, sparking alarm over the use of disproportionate force. The former Georges Brassens school, which was originally occupied in early 2020 and housed up to 200 people, mostly Eastern European and Central African

The Zad of the Link: call to join ZAD du LIEN

The ‘L.I.E.N’ [“la liaison intercantonale d’évitement du nord” – The Northern Bypass or LINK in English] is the latest section of motorway scheduled for construction around Montpellier, France. For 30 years, residents and activists have fought against this project which would see a river of concrete plough through some of the last green spaces around

France: Defending the workers’ gardens against an Olympic parasite

With massive building works for the 2024 Olympics being implemented, Parisians are organising against the systemic use of this “symbol of global unity” to bulldoze and remake communities for the benefit of elite interests. Seven hectares of allotments around the edge of Fort d’Aubervilliers, in the Parisian suburbs, known collectively as the Vertus workers’ gardens,

Two, Three, Many ZADs

A ZAD means a “zone to defend” (zone à défendre in French). These environmental protest occupations have recorded successes such as preventing an airport near Nantes and a dam in the region of Toulouse. This a roundup of recent ZAD news. In July this year, activists from ANV-COP21 and Extinction Rebellion occupied land in Besançon

America, Empire and Us: The Benefits of International Solidarity

Solidarity demonstrations and support for the uprising in America and the Black Lives Matter movement are spreading around the world. The reaction to the murder of George Floyd quickly moved beyond America with people taking to the streets in the UK, France, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Canada, and Greece. Social media critics and conservatives have

Interview: Alessio Kolioulis on Colin Ward’s The Child in the City and its French translation

A French language translation of Colin Ward’s classic The Child in the City was published in March this year by Etrerotopia France – L’enfant dans la ville translated by Léa Nicolas-Teboul. Alessio Kolioulis is the author of a new postface for the translated volume (you can check out an English translation of the postface at

France: Far-right mob attack gay bar and left-wing hangout in masked rampage through Le Mans

On Saturday night, a mob of forty far-right militants, carrying iron bars, baseballs bats and batons, rampaged through the city of Le Mans, France attacking the city’s only gay bar, as well as well-known left-wing haunt, Le Lézard. The riot followed a demonstration in the town by far-right monarchist group Action Française. While Action Française