Plogoff

Plogoff Plougoñ
A storm at Pors Loubous A storm at Pors Loubous
Coat of arms of Plogoff Coat of arms
Plogoff
Location within Brittany region Plogoff
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Brittany
Department	Finistère
Arrondissement	Quimper
Canton	Pont-Croix
Intercommunality	Cap-Sizun
Government
• Mayor (2014–2020)	Maurice Lemaître
Area1	11.73 km2 (4.53 sq mi)
Population (2008)2	1,374
• Density	120/km2 (300/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	29168 / 29770
Elevation	0–80 m (0–262 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Plogoff (in Breton Plougoñ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.

It contains three small ports suitable for very small vessels: Pors-Loubous, Feunten-Aod and Bestrée. The local industries include tourism, traditional biscuitery, agriculture and fishing.

Population

Inhabitants of Plogoff are called in French Plogoffistes.

Toponym

Like for other cities like Guiscriff, Plélauff or the surnames Le Hénaff, Heussaff or Gourcuff, the digraph -ff was introduced by Middle Ages' authors to indicate a nasalized vowel.

Nuclear plant project

In the early 1970s, the French state power company, EDF decided to establish a production's nuclear power plant in Brittany. At first, they tried to establish it in Erdeven, Morbihan. But shield walls fastly rose up. EDF then proposed to establish the project in Ploumoguer, Finistère, just north of Brest. Rightist Elected councilmen around Brest were agree for such a power plant, but not so near of Brest. So, in a treachery's manner, they decided to focus on Plogoff. A village which was mostly populated by old people - unable, for French authorities to protest like in the 2 previous project's places -. But, when Plogoff was proposed by EDF, as a site for a nuclear power plant. Local residents blocked access to the site in 1976, with renewed protests in 1978 and 1979.

In 1980, the national government and EDF attempted to fulfill their statutory obligations to allow the project to proceed by displaying the public utility inquiry documents in the local mairie or city hall. Local officials burned the documents and refused to allow replacement documents to be displayed. In response, the national government set up mobile mairies annexes to display the documents in town centers. These mairies annexes became the focus of the protest movement. For 45 days, the riot police (CRS), the military police (gendarmerie) and some parachutists (EPIGN) guarded the mairies annexes while coming under attack from the protesters.

Once the obligation to display the documents had been met and the documents were withdrawn, the protesters occupied the proposed site of the facility.

In 1981 François Mitterrand was elected President of France. Mitterrand carried out his campaign promise to cancel the project.

A movie «Plogoff, des pierres contre des fusils» («Plogoff, stones against rifles») relating the struggle against the French security forces produced by Nicole & Félix Le Garrec.

See also

• Communes of the Finistère department
• List of the works of the Maître de Plougastel

References

• INSEE

Gallery

• La baie des Trépassés 100 3684.jpg

  The Bay of Trépassés

• Dunes at the Baie des Trépassés 100 2744.jpg

  Dunes at the Baie des Trépassés

External links

• Official website (English)
• French Ministry of Culture list for Plogoff (French)
• Bretons against Plogoff nuclear plant (English)