the Crémade ZAD has been “cleared” by the police, announces the prefect of Tarn

The ZAD installed in the locality of Crémade (Tarn), by some of the opponents of the A69 motorway project between Castres and Toulouse, was “clear early in the afternoon” by the police, announced Sunday October 22 the prefect of Tarn, Michel Vilbois, during a press briefing late in the afternoon.

During this operation, “which is not completely finished”, “nine people have been apprehended” And “six civil servants and soldiers from the police and gendarmerie were slightly injured”. The prefect adds that the firefighters “were not called to care for the injured on the side of the demonstrators”.

Still 150 demonstrators on site

At the end of the afternoon, there remained “150 people on the field next to the Crémade farm”, announces the prefect, who notes that the demonstration was to end at noon and called for dispersal. At the start of the afternoon, pushed back onto a nearby meadow, the demonstrators continued to face the police who used tear gas and stun grenades to keep them away, according to an AFP journalist on place. Thomas Brail, a figure in the struggle, was evacuated by the medical teams set up by the activists, reports France Bleu.

At the end of the afternoon, the last demonstrators “disassemble[aient] their barnum” without “aggressiveness”, according to the prefect. Around 1,600 police officers and gendarmes were deployed this weekend to supervise the mobilization against the A69. Among them, 1,200 agents are gendarmes, 600 of whom intervened to dislodge the opponents installed in the ZAD.