Demonstrators against the LGV Lyon-Turin line in Saint Michel-de-Maurienne, in Savoie, on March 7, 2015 (AFP/Archives/JEAN-PIERRE CLATOT)
“Eminently ecological” construction site or “megalomaniacal and out of order” project? Tension is mounting around the controversial Lyon-Turin railway line project, before a major mobilization planned for Saturday by its opponents in the Maurienne valley and banned by the prefecture for “risk of overflow”.
“There are fears about the security of the police and firefighters,” said the prefect of Savoie François Ravier Thursday during a press briefing in Chambéry, specifying that “2,000 gendarmes and police officers” were going to be deployed. in this border valley of Italy, famous for its ski resorts.
The demonstration, announced for a long time by a dozen organizations including the Uprisings of the Earth and the Italian No-Tav, intends to denounce the ecological impacts, in particular on the water resource, of this “titanic railway site, involving the drilling of 260 km of galleries through the Alpine massifs”.
Supported by the European Union, this new high-speed line should eventually connect Lyon and Turin, with 70% of the tracks in France and 30% in Italy, with a 57.5 km tunnel crossing the Alps between Saint-Jean-de -Maurienne and Suse – i.e. 45 km dug in France and 12.5 km in Italy, for a cost estimated at more than 26 billion euros.
Determined to demonstrate, the opponents decided to challenge the ban decree by means of appeals and maintained the call to demonstrate. “The prefect’s motives are fallacious, we are not terrorists”, reacted Marc Pascal, EELV referent of Savoie.
“We continue to call for a family, festive, non-violent, peaceful demonstration,” he said.
“The local associations filed an interim order against the decree” with the administrative court of Grenoble, indicated for her part Brigitte Finas, of the national office of Attac. “There is a denial of democracy,” she said.
According to the opponents, the work, in progress but still far from being completed, risks “destroying the mountain for the economic interests of a few, to the detriment of the living”. Elected officials such as the EELV mayor of Grenoble Eric Piolle and the LFI deputy Mathilde Panot announced their arrival on Saturday in the Maurienne valley.
– “Intrusions” –
The prefect justified his ban by a lack of information from the organizers on the number of demonstrators expected and on the routes. According to him, they could be “between 3,000 and 4,000”, with “in particular people coming from outside regions and undoubtedly from foreign border countries, in particular Italy and Switzerland”.
In addition, “we have been informed of the presence of radical elements, between 300 and 500”, he added, citing assessments by the Ministry of the Interior.
“Considering the will displayed by some to put an end to the works, we fear intrusions and damage to the sites”, he said, advising the inhabitants “not to come to the scene of the demonstration”.
The prefectural decree, published shortly after the press briefing, prohibits “the holding of any festive gathering of a musical nature (…) other than those legally declared or authorized (…) throughout the territory of the department of Savoie, from Friday June 16, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. until Monday June 19, 2023 at 8:00 a.m.
The sale of firework mortars, retail fuels, chemicals and fireworks is already prohibited, according to the prefecture.
Thursday morning, a demonstration of support for the project had however been authorized, bringing together around 200 people, including elected officials in front of the Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne station.
“Lyon-Turin is no longer a project, it is already a reality in our territory, in our facilities”, estimated the mayor (without label) of the city, Philippe Rollet.
“Lyon-Turin is eminently ecological,” added Émilie Bonnivard, MP (LR) for Savoie, referring to the expected drop in road traffic and CO2 emissions.
“The mountain is not a Swiss cheese”, protested Thursday in a press release the Mountain Wilderness association, deploring that the Alps “already suffer (…) from global warming”.
© 2023 AFP
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