Rally against the A69: a company burned and another ransacked on the sidelines of the demonstration

2023-10-21 18:50:16

A fire was started and damage was caused by anti-A69 activists in two companies working on the construction site of this Castres-Toulouse motorway, on the sidelines of the demonstration of opponents of the project, we learned from a spokesperson for the Atosca dealership and the Tarn prefecture.

“An extremely virulent group of 400 people is currently attacking a cement company and started a fire,” the prefecture said in a message on the X network (formerly Twitter).

A69 demonstration | An extremely virulent group of 400 people is currently attacking a cement company and starting a fire. pic.twitter.com/2idHdmR3R0

— Préfet du Tarn (@prefet81) October 21, 2023

According to the same source, the police then dislodged the activists and the firefighters were able to intervene in this company, Carayon BTP, where several trucks were caught in the flames. Shortly before 4 p.m., the fire had not yet been contained and “it was being treated by the firefighters”.

Another Tarn construction company, Bardou, in Cambounet-sur-le-Sor, which is also working on the A69 construction site, was also targeted by opponents, according to a spokesperson for Atosca, a company in responsible for the highway project. According to images from La Dépêcheblack blocs ransacked the company, before employees do not undertake to repair the damage.

“Ramdam on the tarmac”

The mobilization against the highway called “Ramdam on the macadam” brought together “more than 9,500 people”, according to the organizers. It split into several processions over the course of the afternoon, one taking a railway line while a more violent group visibly headed in the direction of the targeted businesses.

Around 4:15 p.m., the prefecture mentioned 2,400 demonstrators in the main procession of the demonstration and the prefect’s office estimated the “number of radical and violent individuals outside the main procession” at 2,500.

Organized by several environmental collectives and associations as well as unions, the “Ramdam sur le macadam” mobilization has established a camp since Friday and until Sunday in Saïx, about ten kilometers east of Castres. Opponents denounce this highway project, which must be put into service in 2025 and whose work, very briefly interrupted at the end of last week, resumed on Monday.