I had heard rumors and today at a meeting at the British Consulate here in SF I heard again that there was a big protest in Grenoble in connection with the opening of their new nanotech center Minatec, which appears to have been delayed to the next day due to the protest. There’s very little in English available, but here’s an Earth First report, and you can use a free translation service to read the sites in French linked from there.
For example:
1000 persons against Minatec. The science under police escort.
Today, 1st June 2006, more than a thousand persons showed to Grenoble against Minatec and his world. Of noon to 14H, the demonstration unfolded itself without clutter. To the approach Minatec, a policeman in civil pulled in the crowd with his flash ball, touching persons to the legs. Itself some are followed by the police loads obliging showing them to disperse itself (numerous questioning, teargases, locking of the demonstration). Two hundred persons next grouped together themselves peaceful Holy place Bruno and sat in grass. The policemen then loaded massively. A girl seriously was injured to the head by a grenade shooting to fragmentation; she was taken urgency to the hopital with a piece of the pulled out cheek. The numerous passes and merchants extremely were shocked by these excessive acts of police violences. To 16H, the policemen continued to pester the showing. It therefore proved that the scientific research developed to Minatec goes pair with a fort checks policeman and a military response to the dispute. This first French event protesting nanotechnologies allowed putting to the big day anger many persons facing the imposition of these new technologies and military corporation and anti democratic that they induce. Close Minatec! Opposition committee native of grenoble to the Nécrotechnologies ogn (at) ouvaton (not at all) org http://ogn.ouvaton.org/
