Non secular figures, local weather activists stage Paris protest in opposition to Complete initiatives in Africa

Round forty environmental activists and non secular figures chained themselves collectively on a footbridge over the Seine in Paris Thursday, protesting TotalEnergies’ megaprojects in Uganda and Tanzania.

Opponents say the French vitality large’s $10 billion East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) will hurt biodiversity and take land from greater than 100,000 individuals with out satisfactory compensation

“We’re doing injury to biodiversity right here with all of the motorways that proceed to be in-built France. However we’re doing much more injury as a result of we’re speaking about an excessive scale with this EACOP challenge and different investments elsewhere on the earth,” mentioned Caroline Ingrand-Hoffet, a pastor.

The activists chained themselves to the Leopold Sédar-Senghor footbridge, blocking the way in which for nearly 25 minutes, 1,443 seconds to be exact, in reference to the 1,443 km of the long run East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), a challenge of the French multinational that they’re contesting.

The motion happened on the eve of a TotalEnergies annual normal assembly of shareholders.