The clearing operations necessary for the construction of the A69 motorway linking Toulouse to Castres ended on Friday in Tarn, while an opponent is still in a tree on the site, the prefecture indicated in a press release.
“The operation launched on August 30, 2024, aimed, on the one hand, at evacuating opponents illegally occupying the concessionaire’s land and, on the other hand, at securing the deforestation work, has achieved its objectives”the department’s prefecture said in a statement released late Friday, adding that “deforestation operations (…) are completely completed”on the construction site.
A specialized law enforcement unit intervened on Friday morning at the ZAD in “La Cal’arbre”in Saïx in the Tarn, where opponents of the construction of the motorway occupied trees located on this site, the last occupied by opponents. Three of them were evacuated on Friday morning, among which two were “slightly injured during the intervention and quickly taken care of by the firefighters”detailed the prefecture.
A gathering planned for this Sunday
On the opponents’ side, the collective La Voie est Libre, evokes “the fall of about ten meters” of two people taken care of and taken to the emergency room following the intervention. Currently, one last opponent is still occupying a tree on the site. “The clearing of this tree is not necessary for the continuation of the work and can be carried out at a later date.”specifies the prefecture which nevertheless asks “to this opponent to leave this tree immediately” due to the fragility of the occupied tree which “threatens to collapse at any moment”according to the prefecture.
On the first day of the deforestation operation, August 30, a first opponent had already been evacuated “seriously injured with six spinal fractures”according to the collective La Voie est Libre. On September 1, around sixty trees had been cut down on the A69, while“about ten trees” still remained to be felled to complete the deforestation of the Tarn part of the construction site of the future Toulouse-Castres motorway, the prefecture told AFP.
While opponents have announced a rally on Sunday at the site, the Tarn prefecture has banned all demonstrations in the territory of the commune of Saïx until Monday. Outside the area of the “I need a tree”there remains, in the Tarn, another blockage point around a house located on the route, which the tenant and her family still refuse to leave. For several months, the construction of this 53 km section of motorway which would reduce the Castres-Toulouse journey by about twenty minutes, has been the subject of lively protest with large gatherings where opponents clash with the forces.
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