why such a deployment of forces to evacuate the opponents?

A real deployment of forces was observed on Thursday January 16, 2025, in a wooded area of ​​Soorts-Hossegor. Several units of the national gendarmerie carried out the expulsion of opponents of the very high voltage (THT) line, while others cordoned off the area. The expellees, nicknamed “the squirrels”, had been perched in trees for more than a week.

A unit created against anti-nuclear activists

This evacuation follows an order issued by the Dax judicial court seized by the company RTE in charge of the work, “prohibiting anyone from entering the area of ​​the construction work of the electrical interconnection”, indicated the prefecture of Landes in a press release to justify this evacuation.

On site, a very specific unit was mobilized, this is the CNAMO or national mobility support unit. It depends on the national gendarmerie and its mission is “to put an end to the obstructions and complex clashes of demonstrators, whether they are at height or on the ground” explains the gendarmerie website.

Its creation in 2011, under the Fillon government, aimed to put an end to the actions of anti-nuclear activists “who, as a protest, carried out blockades, both on land and in the air”.

Chainsaw and harness

Recently, it was seen on the A69 motorway between Toulouse and Castres where several “squirrels” were also posted in the trees to oppose motorway construction. Several falls of opponents were noted and a report from the commission of inquiry of the Human Rights League of Toulouse (LDH) denounced “the practices of the CNAMO which endangered the lives of opponents”.

In Hossegor, these soldiers evacuated three opponents (one is still in the trees) but also destroyed the platform which sheltered them. Equipped with chainsaws, members of the CNAMO brought down the wooden building several meters high. No injuries were reported during the entire operation, even if some sudden gestures were observed by the opponents.

Elements of the Dax gendarmerie were also mobilized, including the Gendarmerie Surveillance and Intervention Platoon (PSIG), which sealed off the perimeter of the expulsion zone. The soldiers were equipped with defensive bullet launchers and de-encirclement grenades.

Concerning these numerous units deployed to dislodge four opponents, the Landes prefecture assured News Landes that this security device “was planned in order to avoid gatherings under the platform and to ensure the safety of the intervention and of all those present”.

The sensitive subject of energy and the energy independence of our country also arises. Françoise Tahéri notably recalled on several occasions “the importance of electrical connections and interconnections in mainland France and on a European scale (…) in a context of development of renewable energies”.

For the “squirrels”, the fight is not over

In a message sent to our editorial staff, the opponents announced that “the fight continues”:

Despite the ecocide terror, we will not abandon the trees. Because we promised the trees. Just like ants… When a tree burns in a fire, the ants never leave it. They burn with the tree. Even if they destroy our treehouse, they can't separate us from the trees.

As for the “Stop THT 40” collective, it also indicates that nothing is finished and that it will now hand over to other organizations without saying more for the moment.

Five municipalities in Landes concerned

As a reminder, the construction site of the very high voltage line (THT) is an interconnection between France and Spain, connected by 400,000 volt electrical cables in the ocean, except in the Landes. The route which cannot pass off Capbreton because of the Gouf, therefore heads inland from Seignosse and the Barracks beach, then through the communes of Soorts-Hossegor, Angresse, Bénesse-Maremne then finally Capbreton where it resumes its race in the ocean to the southern Basque Country.

On December 25, 2024, opponents asked the new Prime Minister, François Bayrou, for an immediate moratorium concerning the route. They judge this project to be outside of all ecological realities, they affirm that risks for human life exist as well as impacts on the coastline through pollution of the soil and groundwater.

The deputy of Landes, Lionel Caussehe questioned the chairman of the RTE board at the start of the year. In a letter, he asks for clarification regarding the United Kingdom-Morocco (X-Links) project which notably provides for “technical solutions at lower cost and proven effectiveness allowing the use of the 3 goufs located on the route” .

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