There were a few thousand to demonstrate on Saturday in Saïx in the Tarn at the call of local collectives, the Confédération Paysanne, Extinction Rébellion and the Uprisings of the Earth, against the motorway project between Toulouse and Castres.
On the parking lot, in fact, a huge field fitted out for the occasion, Hélène is preparing to return home, the day after the demonstration against the A69 linking Toulouse to Castres which mobilized Saturday April 22 between 4,500 and 8,200 people, according to the sources, in Saïx in the Tarn.
>> Climate crisis: between Toulouse and Castres, the fight is organized against the A69 motorway, deemed “anachronistic”
The teacher, who came from Albi, 50 kilometers away, is ready to come back to demonstrate against the work but is counting above all on the young people, in large numbers in the procession, but also installed at the top of trees, plane trees threatened with felling to make way for the highway. “It’s already a more radical action. They are attached, it’s not violent. It can also be getting in front of the backhoe loaders. There are plenty of ways”, she lists as possible means of action. .
“There are a lot of young people here who have absolutely no intention of letting it go and I think they are indeed able to settle down.”
Hélène, a teacher from Albiat franceinfo
Settling down by pitching her tent for several weeks, or even months, in this field loaned by a farmer and through which the future highway must pass, this local activist from the Extinction Rebellion movement assures us that this is not on the agenda. . “Regarding this camp, it is not a question of making a lasting occupation. But this camp is located on the route of the highway suddenly, it should not be surprising, the day when the backhoe loaders arrive, to find us here”she warns.
Occupy the land physically and “agriculturally”
The actions at the top of the trees will continue, to prevent their felling. Several hundred are threatened and in total, it would be 300 hectares of concreted agricultural land. “I think it’s a great political courage to say that we can be wrong”launches Axel to the address of the president of the Occitanie region, Carole Delga who defends the work.
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If it continues to support the project, it will be necessary, according to this inhabitant of the Tarn, to move on to other modes of action: “He There are legal actions which are in preparation because the environmental authorization of the project was delivered in spite of very many opinions, in particular of the environmental authority. This is one of the follow-ups to the movement.”
Among the worried, Camille, who came from the Drôme for the weekend, has some ideas to suggest on the continuation of the movement. She is fighting there against the construction of a storage site on five hectares of agricultural land. “We’ve been planting for three to four months. It’s not yet a ZAD because we don’t live there. On the other hand, we occupied the space agriculturally. Lots of other crops had already been planted. installed before and there, there are appointments every Sunday”, she explains. Sundays of cultivation of the land, market gardening, it is also now the program in Saïx.
A69: after the demonstration on Saturday, what follow-up will the opponents give? Report in Saïx by Thomas Giraudeau.
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