While the CRS monitor the streets of Toulouse awaiting the new outbreak against the pension reform, west of the Pink City, on the border between Haute-Garonne and Tarn, the gendarmes, who do not skimp on the mobilization of helicopters, they try to anticipate the movements of the “squirrels”. For almost a month, few mornings have not seen a young environmental activist climb a tree to prevent its felling or take all the risks to immobilize a construction machine. The objective is to slow down the construction of theA69 motorway, between Toulouse and Castres: 54 kilometers of asphalt, supposed to save between 12 and 35 minutes of travel time, depending on whether you are in the camp of the anti or the enthusiasts. We’ve been talking about it for thirty years, especially in the Tarn. This inertia contrasts sharply with the speed shown by the concessionaire, NGE-Atosca, in starting the work as soon as the green light was given by the two prefectures.
From Verfeil to the small village of Teulat, passing through the town of Vendine which must leave part of its line of plane trees there, this precipitation has set fire to the powder. “It’s simply lunar, mind-blowing! We are talking about a highway for 8,000 cars a day! In thirty years, the project has had time to become anachronistic, appeals are in preparation and we are starting to cut trees on a site which could be stopped as early as April, “says a historical opponent, who has become insomniac. . He is a member of the group The way is clear (LVL).
With its farmers, its simple residents, its rural elected officials, its environmental defenders of all stripes, it has been standing in the way of the highway for years, assaulting signs, banners, picnics or festive concerts. , humor sometimes. But not so much lately. Our activist, convinced that his line is tapped, is rather to be stored in the owls than in the squirrels. He passes, “to the detriment of [sa] personal life” sleepless nights watching condemned trees in case a bat comes to nest there, or to check if the plot is indeed one of those actually expropriated. At the slightest doubt, he gives the alert. His comrades watch for the delimbers to bring together as many people as possible and form citizen shields around the plane trees.
Encrypted messaging and police surveillance
This citizen vigilance, which sees farmers or retirees converting to Signal-type encrypted messaging, has been relayed since the arrival of construction machinery by harsher, more radical actions, than the sabotage in January of a machine by a mysterious collective foreshadowed.
For a week now, Thomas Brail of the National Tree Monitoring Group (GNSA) has been posting videos valiantly perched on a plane tree in Vendine. The group Extinction Rebellion Toulouse also specializes in these stunts. He is at the maneuver in most of the appearances of the famous not very shy squirrels, in the planting of tents at the foot of trees or in the physical blockages of machines in red togas and death masks. “We can very informally mobilize 30 to 40 very active and immediately available activists, at any time, in the Tarn or in Toulouse, and it’s not just urban students as we hear,” says ” Camille” a member of the group. “Open source” apps, sleepless nights on several fronts, these rather experienced activists are absolutely determined. They assume their strategy of “harassing the site” of a project “where everything is wrong and yet which is going strong”.
While one of them is being prosecuted for tags on a Tarn town hall, they point to the “disproportionate” nature of the police system. “We are followed, we are photographed, we are sent CRS from Caen or Toulon”, lists Camille. And if it happens to the radicals and the historical ones to picnic or protect a tree together, Camille assures him, “each collective remains independent on its mode of action”. “We do not comment on the actions of other collectives,” said a member of LVL. Backed by our ten associations, we have energy to spare and bring human and intellectual resources”. “We try to act in the legal and political field”, adds Alain Hébrard, another member. This does not prevent him from having a blue scare when “two young girls” play the squirrels on a freight elevator “at the risk of their lives” and to salute their courage. “What the authorities don’t understand is that these young people are truly desperate for the future,” he warns.
Residents on the lookout, organized and resolute young people, old backpackers of the struggle, seasoned climber, the protean nature of the opposition to the A69 greatly complicates the movements of the concessionaire [qui n’a pas répondu à nos sollicitations] and law enforcement oversight. This disorganized “little bit of everything” appeals to Camille. “We can’t just be offensive,” he says. So, can the countryside between Toulouse and Castres turn into a vast ZAD? “Over 53 km, it seems ambitious and very technical, but time will tell,” lets the Extinction Rebellion activist float. In the meantime, all the collectives agree that the “tension is rising”. And the various groups have found a date to converge: next April 22-23, they are all calling for the time being to join the route of the A69 for an operation ” Leaving the road “ we were already talking a lot about the mega-basins of Sainte-Soline last weekend. Unless there is a new twist: Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, announced on Tuesday his desire to dissolve Les Uprisings of the Earth, one of the movements at the origin of this mobilization