2024-01-23 14:15:11
The mobilization of farmers turned into a tragedy. Early this Tuesday morning in Ariège, a car mowed down three members of a family at the Pamiers blockade point. The mother died at the scene of the accident. Contrary to what the prosecution initially announced, his daughter, aged 14, did not die and is still hospitalized in serious condition. The father, also seriously injured, is also in hospital. An investigation into aggravated manslaughter and aggravated injury has been opened. Here’s what we know.
What happened ?
The accident occurred at 5:45 a.m. in Pamiers “at the scene of the agricultural demonstration”, near the RD119 bridge, the Ariège prefecture said in a press release. According to La Dépêche du Midithe dam had been installed since Monday mid-afternoon.
“I have just learned that a road accident has happened” involving “three of our members”, announced a little before 8 a.m. RMC the president of the FNSEA Arnaud Rousseau. “A woman has died, her husband and her daughter are in a visibly complicated state and are being quickly taken care of by all the Samu services,” he added, specifying that he had no further details on the circumstances of the tragedy.
According to a police source, a “car drove into the dam for an unknown reason”. The vehicle “hit, in the middle of the night, and with no public lighting nearby, a wall of straw bales, erected all the way up to the bridge, covered with a large black tarpaulin. However, behind this straw wall was installed a large barnum, demonstrators who were eating. The vehicle then hit three people, before ending its course against the trailer of a tractor,” detailed the public prosecutor of Foix, Olivier Mouysset, in a press release.
⚠️At 5:45 a.m. a serious traffic accident occurred in the town of Pamiers (RN 20), near the RD 119 bridge, at the scene of the agricultural event. THE @sdis09 SAMU and SMUR immediately went to the scene.
— Prefect of Ariège (@Prefet09) January 23, 2024
The prohibited access to the RN20 was “secure” and “visible”, announced the prefect of Ariège during a press conference late in the morning. The motorist “necessarily crossed the roadblock knowingly” to access the road. “They passed at breakneck speed, on the shoulders, avoiding the concrete blocks,” described Sébastien Durand, vice-president of the FDSEA of Ariège in France 3 Occitanie.
An investigation into aggravated manslaughter and aggravated injury has been opened. At this stage of the investigation, it was not established whether the car deliberately drove into the demonstrators’ barrier or whether another circumstance was the cause of the tragedy. However, “in view of the very first elements of the investigation, the facts in question do not appear to be of an intentional nature”, believes Olivier Mouysset.
In total, 35 firefighters, 13 police officers and 20 gendarmes were deployed to the scene of the accident, the prefecture said. A psychological support unit has also been set up on the ground. Following the tragedy, the agricultural unions FDSEA and JA decided to lift the Pamiers roadblock on the RN20.
Who are the victims ?
“These are three members of the same family,” said the public prosecutor of Foix, in his press release at 10:30 a.m. The mother, aged around 30, died at the scene of the accident. The father, in his forties, was seriously injured and taken to hospital. Their daughter, aged 14, was taken to hospital in a “worrying” state of health.
The deceased farmer was a Limousin cow breeder and seed corn producer in the village of Saint-Felix-de-Tournegat, a few kilometers from Pamiers. According to information from La Dépêche du Midiall three members of the family were members of the FDSEA.
“Alexandra was a real person, involved in a lot of things, very passionate about hunting,” confided, overwhelmed, Jérôme Bayle, friend of the victim and figure in the mobilization on another agricultural dam, which blocks the A64 Toulouse- Bayonne since Thursday evening. “It’s tragic to come to this. The car drove at full speed into a straw wall, which protected the colleagues’ dam,” he told AFP. “Even if this movement advances, a family will be forever decimated,” he lamented.
Who are the occupants of the vehicle?
The three occupants of the car which hit the family were arrested and placed in police custody in Pamiers, indicates a police source. Injured in the accident, they are currently undergoing medical examinations and have not yet been heard, the prosecution tells us. Drug and alcohol tests were negative.
It concerns a couple and a friend, said the public prosecutor of Foix, Olivier Mouysset, in a press release. They are all three of Armenian nationality and, according to initial information, arrived from Toulouse and were heading towards Andorra.
“As it stands, the prosecution is on a qualification of involuntary homicide and involuntary injuries,” explained the prosecutor general of the Toulouse Court of Appeal on France Bleu Occitanie, assuring that “depending on the elements that will be collected , this qualification may evolve.”
What are the reactions?
“In the particular moment that agriculture is going through, this kind of drama is difficult to live with. This upsets us all,” Arnaud Rousseau declared on RMC. The accident “underlines the need for us to be perfectly organized, to ensure that we respect safety instructions, because what is important for us is to get our messages across,” the president also insisted. of the FNSEA, calling “everyone for calm and reason and to ensure that this anger is expressed with respect for property and people”.
“If this family was on this roadblock, it is because there is discomfort,” insisted Luc Smessaert, vice-president of the FNSEA on BFMTV. “It only gives meaning and values to our fight,” he added, deploring “a tragedy”.
The Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau expressed his “very moved” condolences to the victim’s family and his colleagues. “I think of her, I think of her partner and her daughter who are still fighting for their lives. It’s a tragedy for all of us,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). The Ministry of Agriculture announced that “the minister and his team (were) in close contact with the Ariège prefecture to find out the exact circumstances of the accident”.
As part of union action to defend her profession and express her expectations, a young farmer died early this morning in Ariège.
I think of her, I think of her partner and her daughter who are still fighting for their lives.
This is a tragedy for all of us.…— Marc Fesneau (@MFesneau) January 23, 2024
“Today, all our farmers are in mourning. Our Nation is upset and united,” reacted Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on his X account. “On behalf of the Government, I want to express my sorrow and express my full support to the family and loved ones of the victims,” he wrote again.
“This shocking tragedy adds to the distress of farmers,” reacted for his part on X Carole Delga, president of the Occitanie region. “My thoughts and condolences to the loved ones, families and farmers of Ariège. It is up to justice to do its job,” she added. National Secretary of the Communist Party Fabien Roussel expressed his support and speaks of a “drama for our country”. The president of the RN in the National Assembly Marine Le Pen also expressed his “deep sadness”.
The communist deputy for Puy-de-Dôme André Chassaigne proposed on that the National Assembly “expresses its solidarity (towards the farmer killed this morning) with a minute of silence this afternoon”.
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