2023-10-22 06:52:15
“Who will stay and sleep here tonight?” » The call, launched through a megaphone, is greeted by around thirty raised hands. The activists are reassured. They will be able to occupy, from this Saturday evening, the buildings around them. Quickly improvised after the end of this Saturday’s demonstration in Saïx near Castres (Tarn) on the future route of the A69 motorway, the general assembly was held in the courtyard of an imposing farmhouse. The one that Rémi Niel had to leave after his expropriation, because it was located too close to the construction site.
About a hundred meters away, a concert is being prepared under one of the two tents of the camp set up in a field that the farmer has opened to the demonstrators of the “Ramdam sur le macadam” operation. But for now, it is a matter of organizing and setting up the operation of what everyone hopes to see become a ZAD. A “zone to defend”, like the one which for months in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, prevented the construction of an airport near Nantes.
Here, it will be “CremZad”, in reference to the name of the place, La Crémade. “I don’t know if it’s going to work but it’s one of the best ways to fight now,” assures Clément, a thirty-year-old from Tarn who came to demonstrate. Psychologically, it is important to occupy the place and show that we are not going to give up. »
Manure spread to repel opponents
The slurry spread widely around the farm and the two adjoining houses, which are also occupied, gives off a nauseating odor. “It’s NGE, the developer building the highway, who put this here to discourage us and prevent us from settling,” laments Laurent, activist from the La Voie est libre collective. It won’t be enough and we’re going to clean it all up.”
There remains the worry of a rapid intervention by the police. “It’s going to be hot,” confides another activist, scalded by the fate reserved, Monday, October 16, by his “comrades” hunger strikers dislodged from the top of some trees. “For this evening, there is not too much risk because there are still many of us in the camp,” reassures another activist during the general assembly, his voice almost covered by the noise of the blades of a gendarmerie helicopter which whirls in the air. On the other hand, this night but also those after, it will be necessary to organize guard tours to prevent possible external movements and sound the alert if necessary. »
Inside the farm, two young activists take stock of the situation as if they had just bought the building. “Oh look, there’s a whole box of old newspapers!” exclaims one of them while leafing through a copy of “Centre Presse” dated the summer of 1971. There are also old bottles of wine! » enthuses her friend, nose and eyebrow adorned with piercings. Maybe we won’t taste them, right? It smells like a trap! »
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