Opponents of the A69 Toulouse-Castres demonstrated peacefully in Saïx (Tarn) on Saturday April 22 on the future route of this motorway. Thousands of people took part in the march: 4,500 according to the prefecture, 6,700 according to the organizers.
Our journalist Rémi Barroux followed the demonstration:
Through woods and fields, small roads not far away or on the route of the A69 motorway project, along pro areas… https://t.co/IjWm6JmkgM
It was to be a demonstration in good humor against the A69, Castres/Toulouse, it was. Between 4500 (prefectu… https://t.co/SAtRkxmtF5
This march was the high point of a weekend during which activities are also planned, including concerts and a “cars” going “as slowly as possible”. The mobilization is closely followed by the authorities: 800 gendarmes and police officers were mobilized but the prefect of the Tarn, François-Xavier Lauch, had assured that they would stay behind if the demonstration was “peaceful”.
The protest took place less than a month after the violent clashes between gendarmes and demonstrators against the “megabasins” in Sainte-Soline, in the Deux-Sèvres. But, unlike the mobilization of March 25, the march against the highway project was authorized. There is “no information that shows that in the Tarn people have an absolute desire for violence”also underlined Friday the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin.
A project “from another time”
Saturday morning, before the start of the demonstration, a dozen representatives of the organizers, including the local collective La Voie est libre, Extinction Rebellion, the Confédération paysanne and Les Uprisings of the Earth (SLT), had asked “immediate stop” of the construction site.
During a press conference, they recalled their proposal for the development of the existing national road and denounced the loss of agricultural land or biodiversity that the construction of this 53 kilometer stretch of motorway would entail. They also deplored the price of the Toulouse-Castres trip, which could reach 17 euros round trip, “organized social injustice”according to a representative of the SLT.
“If we want to be consistent, this project must be abandoned”also declared the deputy LFI Manuel Bompard, present in Saïx. “It’s a project from another time, from the 1980s and 1990s”added the Green MP Sandrine Rousseau at the microphone of BFM-TV, “a project that thinks of the territories only with the roads that join them”.
The subject is debated among local elected officials
Elected officials opposed to the project had also denounced Friday its “total contradiction with the climate emergency”. “There is still a chance to stop [le chantier]even if she is thin »declared to Vendine Gilbert Hébrard, former mayor of this commune of Haute-Garonne, on the edge of the Tarn, where opponents have for several weeks erected tents in plane trees to prevent their felling. “This project has become emblematic of the climate fight”added Sabine Mousson, mayor of Teulat, a Tarn town which would be, she specified, “cut in half” by the future highway.
Also present at this press conference, elected officials pointed to the disappearance of agricultural land or the risk of a greater concentration of population in the Toulouse metropolis. Antoine Maurice, head of the list of Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV) narrowly beaten in the municipal elections in Toulouse in 2020, proposed to strengthen the Toulouse-Castres rail link, with a train every hour instead of ten per currently day.
Newsletter
” Human warmth “
How to face the climate challenge? Each week, our best articles on the subject
Register
But other elected officials from Tarn, from all political stripes, support this motorway project, which would reduce the Castres-Toulouse journey by around twenty minutes in 2025 – from a duration of just over an hour today. today. Atosca, private concessionaire of the A69, describes its project as“exemplary” in terms of respect for the environment or job creation. Regarding agricultural land, the planned footprint has been reduced from 380 to 300 hectares, according to its managing director, Martial Gerlinger.
The Ministry of Transport announced that Clément Beaune had requested a review of seven motorway projects in January, “in view of the current challenges: the fight against the artificialization of soils, reduction of CO2but also opening up territories”. “The A69 project is no exception to this review process”adds the ministry, while qualifying because of its state of progress: “The work has started, and a contract binding the State has been signed with the concessionaire. »