fifteen arrests on the last area to be defended during dismantling

Gendarmes evacuate opponents of the A69 Toulouse-Castres motorway called “squirrels” from a tree on the ZAD site (zone to be defended) in Verfeil (Haute-Garonne), October 7, 2024.

Fifteen people were arrested in Verfeil (Haute-Garonne) on Monday October 7 during a new operation to dismantle the last zone to be defended (ZAD) on the route of the A69, according to the gendarmerie.

Since Friday, excavators, dump trucks and bulldozers from the Atosca dealership have accumulated earth at the foot of the two trees still standing on the site, making accessible the cabins in which the last five “squirrels” – these anti-A69 activists who occupy the trees from the construction site – have found refuge since September 16, the date on which the last tenant of the land returned the keys.

One of the five “squirrels” was arrested Monday afternoon, in addition to fourteen arrests made in the morning among the supporters of these environmental activists opposed to the construction of the future motorway between Castres and Toulouse, indicated the gendarmes.

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Order to evacuate

This intervention takes place while the administrative court of Toulouse rendered a judgment on Monday ordering “to all occupants” on site “to evacuate the premises”, “without delay”. “The occupation of the two trees on the land in dispute obstructed the continuation of construction work on the A69 motorway declared to be in the general interest and was detrimental to public safety”explained the court in its decision, considering “that the expulsion measure requested is of an urgent and useful nature and is not subject to any serious challenge”.

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Perched for three weeks, the “squirrels” remained at height despite numerous interventions by the national mobility support unit, a unit specializing in the evacuation of hung or obstructed demonstrators. Last week, the activists who occupied the house on this land located right on the highway route had already been evacuated.

The future A69, a 53-kilometer section of motorway between Toulouse and Castres, aims to open up the south of Tarn. Environmental groups and movements denounce the destruction of wetlands, agricultural land, trees, ecosystems and groundwater, and emphasize that the current national road was far from being saturated.

Read the decryption: Is the A69 motorway project between Toulouse and Castres justified? 6 questions to understand the debate

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