Militant winemakers suspected in telephone sabotage
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Vandals who set fire to telephone exchanges in southern France over the weekend appear to have claimed allegiance to the militant winemaker group known as CRAV.
Image: Livebox News
The initials of the Comite Regionale d’Action Viticole were daubed on walls at the damaged exchanges in Villemur and Bessières, according to local reports – a key calling card of the CRAV.
Households in the northern part of Haute-Garonne saw their phones and internet cut off by the fires, local authorities said, calling the incident an ‘act of vandalism’.
The fires are believed to have been started at 4pm on Sunday 16 March.
The CRAV has existed in Languedoc Roussillon since the 1960s and has its roots in mass uprisings across the region in 1907, predominantly against ‘adulterated’ cheap wine imported to France from North Africa.
It has intermittently protested against a lack of financial support for winemakers by attacking local infrastructure and wineries believed to be holding foreign wine.
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In 2007, balaclava-clad figures claiming affiliation to CRAV were filmed in the Languedoc hinterland threatening then-French president Nicolas Sarkozy. A CRAV spokesperson later described that as a mistake.
Written by Chris Mercer
Chris Mercer is a Bristol-based freelance editor and journalist who spent nearly four years as digital editor of Decanter.com, having previously been Decanter’s news editor across online and print.
He has written about, and reported on, the wine and food sectors for more than 10 years for both consumer and trade media.
Chris first became interested in the wine world while living in Languedoc-Roussillon after completing a journalism Masters in the UK. These days, his love of wine commonly tests his budgeting skills.
Beyond wine, Chris also has an MSc in food policy and has a particular interest in sustainability issues. He has also been a food judge at the UK’s Great Taste Awards.