CRAV: new wave of attacks in south of France

The militant French winemaker group CRAV struck again yesterday, setting fire to a cooperative and vandalising a bottling line in the south of France.

According to local reports, the group, the Regional Comitee for Viticultural Action (CRAV), struck at around 10pm on Sunday.

According to local newspaper Midi Libre, Trilles, a negociant based in the town of Maurelhian, 5km west of Beziers, was one of the targets. Initial reports say its bottling line was vandalised, with the militants setting fire to pallettes and carboard boxes.

‘The fire was in danger of transferring to neighbouring buildings,’ said the newspaper.

Trilles had invested €1.5m in a Tetra-Pak bottling line in 2006.

Inscriptions including ‘negociants: thieves, bandits’ were found daubed on the walls at the scene of the fire.

At around the same time, CRAV militants also attacked the offices of the winemakers’ cooperative of western Aude and Razès (Uccoar) in Clermont l’Herault, 30km west of Montpellier. Around 50 barrels – mainly for promotional use – were set alight.

• For further information on the CRAV, see our index of CRAV stories on decanter.comWritten by Oliver Styles