a group of “400 people” starts a fire in a cement factory near Castres

Tensions on the sidelines of the demonstration against the A69 motorway project linking Toulouse to Castres. “An extremely virulent group of 400 people is currently attacking a cement company and started a fire”announced the Tarn prefecture, Saturday October 21, on the social network (ex-Twitter). The target company, Carayon BTP, is located in the town of Cambounet-sur-le-Sor, a few kilometers from Saïx, where the procession left, according to thehe franceinfo journalist on site.

#A69 #the way is clear degradation of the pencil cement plant in Cambounet sur Sor by some of the opponents pic.twitter.com/gD9Nn5973n

— monin etienne (@ETmonin) October 21, 2023

According to one of the organizers of the rally, the targeted cement plant belongs to a company “who will be the contractor for the A69 construction site”. THE “protesters were cleared by the police”thus allowing firefighters to“intervene at the scene of the fire”, adds the prefecture. Contacted by franceinfo, the prefecture explains that“an initial gathering with a route [avait été] defined in agreement with the prefecture” but “from the start of the route, the procession split into several groups”. In all, six processions set off, according to Etienne Monin.

The collective La Voie est libre, which organizes the demonstration, affirms that “9,500 people” participate in this gathering. Around 4:15 p.m., the prefecture mentioned 2,400 demonstrators in the main procession of the demonstration and estimated the number at 2,500. “number of radical and violent individuals outside the procession” main. The Tarn prefecture announced on Friday the mobilization of 1,600 police officers and gendarmes. Two police officers were slightly injured, according to the prefecture, and six people were arrested.