The procession of around 3,000 demonstrators, mobilized against the LGV Lyon-Turin was blocked by the police this Saturday afternoon. Since 3 p.m., tension has been mounting between the police and opponents of the site.
Article written by
Posted
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
:quality(50)/2023/06/17/648d4b9ebdd5c_maxnewsfrthree987281.jpg)
After setting off from La Chapelle (Savoie) this Saturday around 1 p.m., the procession of several thousand demonstrators against the LGV Lyon-Turin is still blocked by a cordon of police on the D1006 at the height of Saint -Rémy-de-Maurienne, according to the Radio France journalist on the spot. According to the Interior Ministry, there are 3,000 demonstrators. They approached law enforcement. At 3 p.m., the demonstrators and the gendarmes face each other and the tension rises, relates the journalist.
MPs among the protesters
Elected environmentalists tried to find a compromise with the police so that the procession could make a loop. The police refused, but offered to go “straight”. Which does not suit the protesters. At 3 p.m., many protesters are now wearing gas masks. Some have stones in their hands, specifies the journalist from Radio France.
Among the demonstrators are the deputy LFI Mathilde Panot and the deputy EELV of Isère Cyrielle Chatelain. The latter denounces on franceinfo “an inefficient, climaticidal and destructive project”. This new LGV and the tunnel in which it must pass will, according to her, “drain the water” And “destroy 1,500 hectares of natural and agricultural land”.
Earlier this Saturday, the spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior, Camille Chaize, estimated on franceinfo “at 2,000” the number of people present in the Maurienne valley (Savoie) to take part in the event. The procession was prohibited by the prefecture, due to a “very particular geography with steep slopes and very few roads”, justifies Camille Chaize. Overall, she says, 2,000 police and gendarmes are deployed in this border valley with Italy.