2023-04-22 22:19:57
From one month to another the watchword has changed, «No bassaran» becoming « No macadam ». But the determination is the same, as are the reasons for the anger. In Sainte-Soline, in Deux-Sèvres, on March 25, the target was a mega basin, a symbol of the grabbing of agricultural land and water. Here, in Saïx (Tarn), this Saturday April 22, on the route of the A69 motorway project to link Castres to Toulouse, it is the artificialization of at least 400 hectares of agricultural land which, for several dozens of years, encounters a multifaceted opposition.
The demonstration, called “A69, road exit”was organized by the local association La Voie est libre, the Confédération paysanne, Extinction Rebellion (XR) Toulouse and Les Uprisings of the Earth, the latter network still being threatened with dissolution, announced by the Minister of interior, Gérald Darmanin, following the violent clashes that marked the day of March 25.
An hour before the start of the demonstration, the village of Soual, located on the route, was placed under surveillance, the streets of the town emptying. The gendarmes were positioned on the accesses to the village and, in particular, at the entrances to the Pierre Fabre factory, named after the leader who carried out the motorway project thirty years ago, a possible target of the demonstrators. To avoid any overflow, the Tarn prefecture had taken numerous measures strictly framing the authorized demonstration. “We have identified points on the route that may be subject to threats on which we have positioned our forcesexplains a communication manager of the embedded combined arms group (GIE). But our position is discreet and of low visibility. »
Invisible law enforcement device
Friday, the day before the demonstration, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin had declaredon France Info, wait “in the Tarn, a hundred radical individuals” and warned: “If they were violent, we will intervene”. But on Saturday, there was no confrontation, and the important order maintenance device engaged, more than 800 gendarmes and CRS, remained invisible, as the prefect of the Tarn had committed to it. The thousands of demonstrators, 4,500 according to the prefecture, 8,200 according to the organizers, marched, often in light rain, in good spirits, reconciling determination against the project and humour, by organizing in particular on a section of the dual carriageway which bypasses the town of Soual, a race of “cars” each crazier than the other.
You have 68.29% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
#A69 #motorway #project #Tarn #determined #demonstration #good #mood