About 3,000 people took part in a prohibited demonstration against the LGV Lyon-Turin, this Saturday afternoon in the Maurienne valley (Savoie). Scuffles punctuated the mobilization, 12 gendarmes and opponents were injured.
About 3,000 demonstrators marched this Saturday afternoon in the Maurienne valley (Savoie), against the LGV Lyon-Turin project. The procession started from the town of La Chapelle around 1 p.m., on the D1006 road. But it was quickly blocked by law enforcement. A few scuffles punctuated the mobilization.
The parade, banned by justice, was intended to be peaceful. DOpponents came from the Rhône-Alpes region and from all over France. Josiane, 76, is from Chambéry: “Thirty years ago, I was already in the first demonstrations. Over time, we gave up a little bit, but now we’re back. There are people to take over. It’s nice to see so many young people defending their future.” For his daughter Laure-Line: “On the tunnel, there are only eleven kilometers that have been built. So when we are told that we cannot stop, it is not true. As the Maurienne people say: when the weather is bad, a good guide knows how to turn around'”.
The A43 motorway blocked by protesters
Stopping the LGV project is the wish of the demonstrators who marched. But the march lasted a short time because the procession was stopped after an hour by gendarmerie trucks. Elected officials tried to negotiate, in vain, to pass. This is the case, for example, of Cyrielle Chatelain, EELV deputy: “I deeply regret it. Today we could hold a peaceful demonstration. The organizers have been offering routes for a week. It’s a shame to come to this situation that we could avoid.”
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Around 3:45 p.m., the police warn the demonstrators “Last summons! We will use force”, a policeman said into a megaphone. But the warnings had no effect and the demonstrators remained on the departmental road before setting up light barricades. The charges of the gendarmes to launch tear gas did not change anything either. One of the disencirclement grenades started a brush fire. At the end of the afternoon, 300 people crossed the Arc River to block the A43 motorway.
Twelve police officers injured
However, the demonstration looks like a victory all the same for Pina, the spokesperson of the collective “Les Uprisings of the earth”: “It’s really a new chapter in the fight that has been going on for 30 years. So a big victory from that point of view, to have been able to bring the subject of Lyon-Turin to all the media and to have been able to make it a national and European subject”.
“We are still very disappointed. Everything has been banned, there are 2,000 police officers who have been deployed. We literally faced a wall, so a little frustration and anger”.
Tina, spokesperson for the collective “Les Uprisings of the Earth”on franceinfo
Opponents intend to continue the fight against this project described as an ecological aberration, costly and disastrous for the environment. The organizers also mention “several injuries” in their ranks.
In a tweet Gérald Darmanin counts “96 foreign nationals, known to the services, turned back at the border” And “more than 400 dangerous objects seized during preflight checks.” According to the Ministry of the Interior, twelve gendarmes were injured.