Midnight, the hour of the “crime” for the detractors of the A69 motorway between Castres and Toulouse, that of the resumption of slaughterings for the concessionaire Atosca. The night was restless in Vendine (Haute-Garonne), west of Toulouse, where new plane trees were cut despite attempts by opponents to stop these “forest works”, including by climbing trees, ” seasoned squirrels.
The events were predictable since since Tuesday the sector had become the scene of a large deployment of the gendarmerie. Atosca had also revealed on Wednesday its intention to resume operations, stopped on March 31 to comply with environmental legislation and not to interfere with nesting, from September 1. The dealer therefore did not waste a minute.
“The last plane tree in Vendine fell, in the middle of 200 gendarmes. The cuts were carried out under catastrophic security conditions (…) There are still hundreds of trees to save. Get ready”, reacted on Facebook the collective of opponents La Voie est Libre (LVEL) whose request for a moratorium was not heard by the authorities.
Atosca underlines for its part that only 12 plane trees of Vendine must disappear against the 20 initially condemned and recalls that it is planned to replant “five times more trees and shrubs than the impact of the project on afforestation”.
The cuts are due to continue until November 30, and opponents have no intention of letting up.