Four arrests after clashes between opponents and police as work resumed

Tensions broke out during the night from Saturday to Sunday 1 September between opponents of the A69 construction site and the police, on the construction site located in the commune of Saïx. As soon as the deforestation resumed at midnight, the police were targeted “even before the cuts start” of mortar fire trees and projectile jets, launched “by catapult”, says the Tarn prefecture. Opponents of the highway between Toulouse and Castres also tried to enter the construction site. Four people were arrested.

According to the prefecture, the specialized teams of the national gendarmerie have made it possible to bring down several activists perched in the trees. But Sunday morning, some trees still remain occupied on the site of La Calarié in the commune of Saïx. Train traffic between Toulouse and Castres was slightly disrupted in the morning “due to the presence of opponents on the railway line.”

On Friday, the police began to evacuate the ZAD of Cal’arbre in Saïx, at a place called La Calarié. “illegally occupied by opponents of the A69 motorway construction site.” In total, law enforcement has made 17 arrests since Friday, according to the prefecture. The construction of the A69 motorway is criticized by environmental groups and movements, which denounce a project that is harmful to the climate and the destruction of wetlands, agricultural land, trees, ecosystems and water tables.