A69 construction site: tenant files complaint after two attempted arson attacks in her home in eight days

Alexandra, tenant of a house located on the route of the future motorway between Toulouse and Castres, hosts anti-A69 zadistres, she denounces attacks by “pro-motorway” people.

The tenant of a property located on the route of the A69 motorway construction site, at the place called Le Verger in Verfeil, in Haute-Garonne, was the victim of two attempted arson attacks in eight days, France Bleu Occitanie learned on Monday 2 September. The first time, on Monday 26 August, it was her garden that was targeted. The second time, it was her car and the gate that were targeted, last Sunday. This mother of a four-year-old boy has filed a complaint.

The house in question is located on the route of the future motorway between Toulouse and Castres. It has still not been expropriated. The tenant and her family refuse to leave the premises and say they have been victims of attempted arson attacks on their property since 26 August, the first day she noticed several fires starting in her garden. On Sunday, it was her gate and her vehicle that were targeted this time.

In the early morning, “We were woken up by screams, we went downstairs”Alexandra tells the microphone of France Bleu Occitanie. “There were four people dressed in black, wearing balaclavas, who were next to my car. They ran away, but before leaving, they threw a Molotov cocktail into my car. Again at the gate, they set fire to it and sprayed tear gas on their pursuers.”

This tenant, who refuses for the moment to leave the house and who is hosting anti-A69 ZADists, is certain of it: “They are pro-motorway people, people who want to harm young people (the anti-A69 activists who were standing guard in the garden). Clearly, it wasn’t just my car and the gate that were targeted. (…) The work is delayed because of us and we are disturbing people. They want us to leave quickly and want to scare us.” Alexandra claims to have found “a bag full of cans of flammable liquid in front of the house. And we found a Molotov cocktail next to the stove where there is a gas bottle.”

The collective La Voie est libre, opposed to the A69 project, said it was scandalized by “this terrible repetition of the cowardly and unspeakable aggression” against Alexandra and her four-year-old son. A kitty has been put online on the website leetchi.com. In a press release published on the kitty page, La Voie est libre also states that in trying to prevent the four hooded people from setting fire to the house, “one of the family members was doused with gasoline.” In this attack, no one was injured, apart from a few burns.

Despite this situation being judged “dramatic” by the tenant, she does not intend to leave for the moment. The collective La Voie est libre claims that the mother’s lease runs until November 1, 2025. The owner, himself, was expropriated at the start of the work in 2023. On Thursday, August 29, a bailiff – mandated by the Atosca concessionaire and the Haute-Garonne prefecture – went on site for two offers of rehousing in Alexandra. “A council apartment”, the tenant squeaks. “I have 8 000m2 and I have 180m2 of house on three floors”. She has two months to accept or refuse these offers, before an expropriation accompanied by compensation, where “I am supposed to be rehoused under the same conditions”says the mother.