A Catholic nun has been videoed emphatically taking down a climate activist who was causing disruption during a green demonstration in France. 

Protesters were gathering in Saint-Pierre-de-Colombier, in the south of France, in an attempt to stop plans to build a pilgrim centre. 

Environmentalists were battling the Famille Missionnaire de Notre-Dame (Missionary Family of Our Lady) community, which is considered to be a possible cult by the French authorities. 

In a bid to stop the climate protesters from chaining themselves to the digger, nuns from the missionary formed a human chain. 

The night before the nuns guarded the site and had fortified entrances with barricades to stop protesters from sneaking in 

However, the clash soon turned physical when a rogue nun sprinted across a muddy field to tackle a protester carrying two plastic pipes. 

Cameras captured the moment which showed her grabbing the man’s arm and clinging on before driving him to the ground where they both wrestled. 

Gripping tightly onto his jacket, the nun pulls the eco-protester down to the ground in what resembled a rugby tackle. Photo / France 3 

Sylvain Hérenguel, co-president of the protest group, told France 3: “I didn’t expect that. 

“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.” 

Hérenguel’s protest group believe the new chapel and residential plans would ruin destory agricultural land in the process that they claimed could be “used for future generations”. 

The protesters had reportedly attempted to thwart the planned construction of a new church in France because of its carbon footprint. Photo / France 3 

They also said the land is the habitat of protected species. 

According to The Times, the religious community was told by the Bishop of Viviers to abandon the project on the basis that it is excessively large, but this order was ignored. 

Climate activism has been slammed by many in France, with the country’s interior minister labelling them “eco-terrorists”.