PARIS, April 21 (Reuters) – Hundreds of people are expected this weekend in the Tarn to protest against the construction of a motorway between Castres and Toulouse, raising fears of violence of the type that recently punctuated the protest against water reserves in Deux-Sèvres.
Among the associations and political parties that have called for action are Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace France, La France insoumise, the Confédération paysanne, Attac and The uprisings of the Earth.
The government demanded the dissolution of this last organization after the violence last month against the construction of water retention basins drawn from groundwater in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres).
Guest of Franceinfo on Friday, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin stressed that, “unlike Sainte-Soline”, the demonstration planned for this weekend in Saix (Tarn) was “authorized”.
“We have no information that shows us that in the Tarn, people have an absolute desire for violence, which was obviously the case in Sainte-Soline”, he said, referring to the possible presence of a “hundred of radical individuals”.
“If they should be violent, we will intervene,” he said.
With a length of 57 kilometers, the motorway between Castres and Toulouse would save between 20 and 40 minutes of travel according to estimates, and would reduce traffic on a national road which crosses villages.
Work has begun to implement this project, which dates back to 2006.
His opponents blame in particular the felling of some 2,500 trees and the disappearance of a humidification zone.
“Despite the environmental disaster that has begun, the planet’s decision-makers are stubborn in accelerating the realization of major harmful, useless and imposed projects”, they write in a forum broadcast on the internet, where they denounce “concreting” and “the promotion polluting modes of transport.
“For each tree or shrub impacted, we will replant five”, replies in Le Parisien the general manager of the Atosca concessionaire, Martial Gerlinger, who also promises the provision of carpooling areas and charging stations for the electric cars. (Report Elizabeth Pineau, edited by Tangi Salaün)
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