Environmental opponents joined the rally against the A69 Castres-Toulouse motorway on Saturday morning.
This gathering has been banned, but the organizers intend to succeed in mobilizing those who oppose this project.
According to the Tarn prefecture, at midday, “from 2,500 to 3,000 people including 300 to 400 hooded and dressed in black” were present near the Puylaurens site.
MID-DAY UPDATE
After a first night “without incident”, according to the Tarn prefecture, “from 2500 to 3000 people including 300 to 400 hooded and dressed in black” are currently on the site of the demonstration. 1,600 police officers and gendarmes are mobilized, remind the authorities, for this day of high tension.
SYMBOLIC ACTION
During a demonstration between the protest camp located near the village of Puylaurens and the highway construction site, activists from the Confédération Paysanne denounced the “concreteization” and “artificialization of the soil”. The procession of several dozen people dotted with the yellow flags of the agricultural union went to a plot of land threatened by the construction site in order to sow seeds “for the future
WHAT SAFETY DEVICE?
To deal with the risk of violence, according to our information, twelve mobile force units – eight CRS units and four gendarmerie units – are on site. Added to this are other security forces, nearly a thousand gendarmes and police officers who are mobilized during these three days. The checks have started as noted by our special correspondent in Puylaurens.
A69 motorway: a day of high-tension demonstration between Castres and ToulouseSource : TF1 Info
RETURN TO “THE A69 OF DISCORD”
Built in the name of opening up the Castres and Mazamet basin, supported by a majority of local and regional elected officials, the A69 (a 53 km section) is criticized by left-wing and environmental movements, scientists who denounce the destruction of wetlands, trees, for a saving of time, according to them, little. We explain to you, in this old report, the ins and outs of this controversial project.
START AT 1PM
From 1 p.m., several local collectives and the Earth Uprisings called for a “Manif’Action”, the culmination of the “Free Wheel” mobilization, which began Friday and will end Sunday.
PROTESTERS ALREADY ON SITE
Several thousand environmental opponents, according to the organizers, 1,000 people according to the prefecture, joined the rally against the A69 Castres-Toulouse motorway this Saturday morning in Tarn, despite the ban on the weekend of mobilization by the authorities.
What mobilization despite the ban? And will the demonstration take place peacefully? These are the questions that arise as just before noon, “several thousands” environmentalist opponents, according to the organizers – 1,000 people according to the prefecture – joined this Saturday morning, in Puylaurens (Tarn), the rally against the A69 Castres-Toulouse motorway. A demonstration maintained by the organizers, despite the ban on the weekend of mobilization by the authorities.
From 1 p.m., several local collectives and Les Soulèvements de la terre called for a “Manif’Action”, which aims to be the culmination of the “Roue Libre” mobilization, which began on Friday and will end on Sunday.
The environmentalist demonstration was banned by the Tarn prefecture (the administrative court having rejected on Saturday the appeal of the Peasant Confederation and the national tree monitoring group), at the request of the Ministry of the Interior for fear of violence. Gérald Darmanin explained that this event could attract “600 black blocs (…) who want to fight with the police, attack property, attack people“. But by Friday, hundreds of people had begun to gather on private land located near the village of Puylaurens, where several marquees were erected. No incident was reported during the night from Friday to Saturday.
At the height of the mobilization on Saturday, the organizers are waiting “between 10,000 and 15,000 people”. A substantial system was deployed: more than 1,000 gendarmes and police officers were dispatched to the outskirts of Puylaurens, with the aim of containing the demonstrators on the camp grounds.
