The main 'counter summit' to the recent G7 gathering took place miles away from the French resort of Biarritz, towns were locked down, and some protestors were banned from the area. The result was low-key, small-scale opposition to the meeting of international leaders, representing an undeniable success for the French presidency. Christophe Gueugneau and Elisa Perrigueur report.
Élodie, a member of the climate change action group ANV-COP21, is upbeat as she speaks into the megaphone. “Despite the repression, despite the ban on protesting, we've kept going, and organised this press conference in the most protected zone in the French state!” As she delivers these words in the shadows of the Saint-André church in Bayonne, south-west France, up to a thousand activists from ANV-COP21, Alternatiba and Bizi and other militants, who have come from the G7 'counter summit' around 20 miles away, break into loud applause.
