Death of Rémi Fraisse: ten years for nothing

A decade ago, a 21-year-old young man died. His name was Rémi Fraisse and he was involved in the defense of a protected wetland in a Tarn valley, threatened by a project to transform it into an agricultural water reservoir. It is enough to see him in this group photo which was taken in Burgundy some time before his death, during a stay at the community of Taizé (Saône-et-Loire), to understand that we are not there in the presence of a radicalized activist. Rémi Fraisse is recognizable among young people of his age, who have come to rest in this ecumenical monastery dedicated to reconciliation.

A graduate of a BTS in nature management and protection and passionate about botany, the activist had naturally taken up the cause for the defense of the natural areas of his region. Another photo, taken a few hours before his death, shows him when he came to Sivens with friends to try to understand what was going on there. The sequence of events could not be clarified. Faced with the ongoing confrontation between the police and ZAD activists, Rémi seems to have tried to intervene.

A grenade fired by the police mowed him down, without further ado. Ten years later, if restraint was not finally achieved, nothing has been resolved for this agricultural world trapped between the productivist model and the ongoing climate change. What if the memory of Rémi Fraisse could finally work towards the reconciliation of hearts?