2023-10-21 12:52:50
Opponents of the A69 motorway project between Toulouse and Castres who began, on Saturday October 21, to gather in their thousands on the outskirts of Castres before a demonstration planned for midday, say they “more determined than ever” facing a “project of the past”.
“We are more determined than ever, we do not want the future to which they condemn us, our watchword is Love and rage, no macadam! »said during a press briefing Amalia, from Extinction Rébellion Toulouse, one of the collectives which called for mobilization against the A69 this weekend.
“There were already nearly two thousand of us yesterday [vendredi] evening. For the last mobilization in April, there were 8,200 and we hope to be as numerous today”underlined Etienne Fauteux from the same collective.
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1,600 police and gendarmes deployed
Based on an Ifop survey carried out a few days ago among the population of Tarn and Haute-Garonne, Gilles Garric of the collective La Voie est libre, declared that 61% of respondents were in favor of abandoning the project motorway and that 82% of them were in favor of a local referendum.
“There really is public opinion which has turned in our favor and we are legitimate to continue to fight on all grounds”he judged while Lena, who spoke on behalf of the Earth Uprisings, considered that this highway project was “the example of the projects we are fighting against, the projects of the past”.
After a short suspension at the end of last week, the work of the A69, a section of motorway which would reduce the Castres-Toulouse journey by around twenty minutes and must be put into service in 2025, resumed on Monday, the government saying “determined to bring this project to fruition, which was decided democratically and systematically confirmed by the judge”.
The opponents believe that all legal recourses have not been purged and believe that the project can still be abandoned, basing their hope on the success of the mobilization against the airport in Notre-Dame- des-Landes (Loire-Atlantique).
At a camp set up in Saïx (Tarn), about ten km east of Castres, several thousand people began to gather under the sun and in calm before the start of a demonstration, scheduled for 12 p.m. 30.
Some 1,600 police officers and gendarmes are deployed for this mobilization, according to the prefecture, twice as many as during a previous demonstration against the A69 last spring.
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