Thousands of opponents of the A69 motorway gathered in Tarn, two police officers injured

Special envoy

Several thousand people joined the rally against the A69 Castres-Toulouse motorway in Tarn on Saturday, despite the authorities banning the weekend of mobilization. Opponents, sometimes from Spain or Germany, flocked to the call from local environmental groups and the Earth Uprisings. There are 4 to 5,000 environmental opponents, according to the organizers, 2,500 to 3,000 depending on the prefecture. “Darmanin gave us some great publicity. There are thousands of us”says an activist.

Among the demonstrators, couples with children but also opponents who want to fight. In a press release at midday, the Tarn prefecture estimated that it had spotted, among those mobilized, “300 to 400 hooded and dressed in black”. Clashes with the police occurred in the afternoon. Two gendarmes were injured, one hit by a Molotov cocktail, the other by a firework mortar, according to the prefecture. A protester was also injured in the calf.

The police were caught in a vice

On the D926, the police blocked the road, the strategy being to prevent the demonstrators from leaving the camp established on private land. An illusory goal. Some anti A69s passed through the fields. Result: at the beginning of the afternoon, the police were caught between two processions and were stoned. They responded with a few tear gas bombs. The SDIS intervened to put out fires.

At the D12 and D 926 intersection, demonstrators set up and displayed banners. “They are showing off to mobilize the police on this point. And other more ‘deter’ processions will act elsewhere.says a regular at the demonstrations.

A few minutes later, on a hill, the most violent demonstrators challenged the police. On either side of the road, a hill held by the opponents, on the other, the route of the highway. The two camps clash with crossfire of tear gas. Two latest generation centaur armored vehicles have been stationed on this hot spot.

A little further away is the restaurant Le cri de la Fourchette, empty and walled up because it is on the highway route. The fear of the authorities: that this place will become a focal point for the most virulent opponents.

Slogans beyond the fight against the A69

At the end of the morning, the activists held a press conference: “There are 20 to 30 appeals against the route”says a member of La Voie Est Libre, one of the associations opposed to the project. “Everything is at stake here,” adds another, “the A69 represents the management of a deadly policy”. “Our only weapon is our determination”adds a demonstrator.

The slogans go beyond the fight against the A69. Solidarity with the Palestinian people was applauded. Support was provided to “peoples colonized by the French state”. More broadly, the fight is being waged against “the capitalist state” and for “a society where everything is deconstructed”. To the cries of “Darmanin dirty rapist” And “who since this week has been doing his little act” is booed. “If we have to go through illegality, we will do it because we are legitimate”.

Four different processions

Four processions were organized according to different colors and left in dispersed order. Everyone chose their procession, thanks to a leaflet. Blue is “the hardest”. The roses, feminist and determined, passed through the woods towards the D926. Cisgender men are not allowed. The first to leave were dressed in black, their faces hidden.

Volunteers often masked

The camp was established on private land located near the village of Puylaurens, lent by a farmer opposed to the route. Several marquees were erected there and hundreds of tents installed. Photos are prohibited and instructions are strict. In the parking lot, demonstrators hid their plates with thick tape. “So as not to be spotted”said an opponent.

“We must show the prefect who keeps saying that the struggle is declining, and to the elected officials, that we are still determined”said Laurent Prost, of the La Voie Est Libre (LVEL) collective, precursor of the mobilization.

Read alsoA69: according to an intelligence note, the demonstrators decided to return to violence

Nearly 150 weapons seized by destination

At the request of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, the prefects of Tarn and Haute-Garonne had banned any gathering on the territory of 17 municipalities of Tarn, and 7 of Haute-Garonne, located on the route of the A69.

The prefectural decrees were contested by the Peasant Confederation and the National Tree Surveillance Group (GNSA) before the Toulouse administrative court, which rejected their appeals requesting the suspension of the ban on mobilization on Friday evening.

Around 1,600 gendarmes and police officers were dispatched to the area around Puylaurens.

Eight people have so far been arrested, announced Friday evening the prefect of Tarn, Michel Vilbois, during a press briefing, where he also announced the seizure of “148 objects intended for weapons”of which, he said, “nail boards”of the “knives of all sizes”of the “slingshots” or some “prunes”.