HAVING NUN OF IT: Sister tackles environment protester in southern France

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Have you heard the one about the female nun who tackled a male demonstrator?

No, it’s not a joke; it really happened in southern France and became a viral video as a result, reported Fox News.

The French nun tackled the environmental protester on Saturday outside of a construction site for a new religious centre in Saint-Pierre-de-Colombier, which is about 300 km northwest of the French Riviera.

Members of the eco-group Les Amis de la Bourges, which means friends of the village in English, were protesting the building because they claim the construction threatens several rare plant species.

The construction site was surrounded by a human chain made up of nuns from the Missionary Family of Notre-Dame, who were trying to block the environmental group, and one of the sisters ended up tackling a protester who was running away with what appeared to be building materials.

“I didn’t expect that,” Sylvain Herenguel, a co-president of Les Amis de la Bourges, told public broadcaster France 3.

“I expected the nuns to be a little reasonable for the public order. The problem is that the religious people decided to resort to violence. I was attacked three times by five people, who snatched me, who wanted to throw me out there. They decided to protect the site with their actions and their bodies.”

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The environmental group told Fox News Digital they want construction suspended until all environmental authorizations have been obtained.

Construction originally began in December 2018 with plans for a basilica to hold 3,500 people, but by June 2020 activists had set up a zone around the area, eventually leading to construction being halted by October of that year.

However, building resumed by 2022 following additional environmental studies.