On the ground or in the National Assembly, the face-to-face continues between the State and opponents of the A69 motorway project between Toulouse and Castres (Tarn). Tuesday May 7, the prefect of the Occitanie region, Pierre-André Durand, and that of the Tarn department, Michel Vilbois, were questioned by the deputies of the commission of inquiry dedicated to the legal and financial arrangement of this 53 kilometer infrastructure . From his introductory remarks, Mr. Durand returned to the context of tensions. “It is not shocking in a rule of law that a project is the subject of litigation, it is perfectly legitimate. (…) I am not shocked either that citizens wish to demonstratehe clarified. On the other hand, where there will always be (…) the greatest firmness is when there are delinquent, even terrorist, actions. I use the word intentionally. »
A vocabulary reminiscent of that of Gérald Darmanin. On October 30, 2022, the Minister of the Interior used the word “ecoterrorist” to discuss the demonstrations against the megabasins of Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres). Around the A69 construction site, several damages to equipment have been noted over the past month. On the night of April 16 to 17, four construction machines were set on fire in the town of Saïx (Tarn). An action claimed by a section of the IPCC, the Intervention Group for the extinction of construction sites.
Sunday May 5, another device was burned in Puylaurens (Tarn). This was located on land along the RN 126 and would belong to EHTP, a subsidiary of the NGE group, the highway constructor. An investigation was opened by the Castres public prosecutor’s office. No doubt in reference to the action of Saïx, Mr. Durand described, on Tuesday, before the commission, the actions of a “thirty people, dressed in black, masked”.
Since the pacifist opponents came down from the trees in which they had perched, particularly in the Crémade woods, a more radical opposition has targeted the construction sites. At the beginning of March, several messages on social networks called for “intensify actions” against NGE. “We want to help create a climate of fear (…) in solidarity with the fight against the A69. We are asking, like other groups, for a moratorium on the construction of the highway”, wrote another section of the IPCC on March 21. Activists also denounce the violence of the police.
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In a document released Monday, May 6, the collective La Voie est libre indicated that one of its members had been arrested at his home, Thursday, April 25, by several gendarmes who pinned him to the ground. “Result of this gratuitous violence: a triple fracture to the face, head trauma and a painful shock to the knee which the doctors confirmed a few hours later”writes the collective which evokes a “trap set by the Tarn prefecture and the Castres prosecutor”. Sentenced in immediate appearance to ten months in prison, the man appealed. Asked by The worldthe Tarn prefecture explained that this “judicial operation is underway” and did not wish to provide further comments.
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