The goal of this demonstration according to the organizers? “Amplify” their protest movement against the future South-West LGV which they consider useless, “deadly” and “ruinous”.
According to the gendarmerie, 800 to 1,000 people, including a “high proportion” of “hooded” activists, gathered in a camp in Lerm-et-Musset, a village 75 km south of Bordeaux.
The authorities had expected 3,000 to 5,000 demonstrators this week, including “several hundred very violent individuals”. The gendarmes identified around twenty “S files” and people already checked during demonstrations against the A69 in Occitanie.
Short exchange of projectiles
A helicopter monitoring the area during the night from Friday to Saturday was targeted by fireworks mortars which did not hit it. A short exchange of projectiles took place on Saturday when demonstrators damaged a stuck law enforcement car, without causing any injuries.
The LGV is widely supported by communities in Occitanie, but, in New Aquitaine, opposition to the project – born in the 1990s and relaunched since 2020 – is long-standing, mixing local elected officials and parliamentarians, residents, foresters and wine growers.
They have since been joined in the fight by the Earth Uprising movement, known in particular for their opposition to the “basins” of Poitou.