Tempers flared this Thursday in Quimper, in Finistère, in Brittany. While a meeting was held in the morning at the departmental headquarters of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) to discuss the regulation of emergencies at the Carhaix hospital, protesters invaded the premises, reports Western France and France 3.
Gathered first outdoors, with music and in a pleasant atmosphere, a hundred people, including about fifty coming directly from the city in central Brittany, demonstrated to express their discontent. They demand the 24-hour reopening of the hospital’s emergency rooms, currently closed in the afternoon and evening, while the Brest University Hospital is an hour away by car.
“In Central Brittany we have low salaries, we pay our taxes like everyone else, we are not sub-citizens, we have the right to have public services like everyone else,” said Matthieu Guillemot, spokesperson for the vigilance committee mobilized against the closure of emergencies present in the meeting, to AFP.
An occupation of almost five hours
Around 12:00 p.m., faced with fruitless discussions, about sixty protesters decided to enter the place. And keep them busy for almost five hours. The eight ARS representatives present, including the general director of ARS Brittany, Élise Noguera, as well as the general director of the Brest-Carhaix University Hospital, Florence Favrel-Feuillade, were trapped inside.
“We will not move from here. The delegation was not listened to, so now it is the people who decide. We are improvising,” exclaims one of the protesters according to the account Western France.
An improvised barrier, made up of tables, chairs and shelves, prevented access to the corridor, no one could enter or leave the meeting room, “no matter how well equipped it was with a water point”, notes a France 3 journalist on the spot. .
If this coup maneuver provoked the wrath of the prefecture of Finistère and the Finistère deputy Annaïg Le Meur, who “strongly condemns the intrusion”, the occupation took place without violence.
“Only politicians talk”
“We are disappointed, more than angry,” says Matthieu Guillemot. Western France. We are drying out the hospital and everything is fine! Today there are testimonies of people who demonstrate because their parents are dead. But obviously no one cares. “We will not give up because they make fun of us.”
He regrets that “during the two hours that the meeting lasted” there was only “political talk.” “They were there to give us statistics to justify the closure of the emergencies,” he explained to AFP. A measure taken to compensate for the lack of doctors.
When leaving the premises at 5:30 p.m., despite the hours of occupation, no common ground was found.
“The ARS says that it has kept its promises and that everything has returned to normal, but no, that is not true. We are far from normal,” Matthieu Guillemot declared to France 3, ironically “today you break your arm in Carhaix, You can go to the emergency room between 9:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., so choose the time to break your arm carefully.”
For the director of the ARS, he invites residents to call 15, attention to vital emergencies is assured and “organization by regulation of works”.
But Matthieu Guillemot the fight is not over: “Let’s unite to see what happens next with our actions. We will continue until the end and we will win.”
Source: BFM TV
