Opponents of the A69 motorway project between Toulouse and Castres who began, on Saturday October 21, to gather in their thousands on the outskirts of Castres before a demonstration planned for midday, say they are “more determined than ever” in the face of a “project of the past.”
“We are more determined than ever, we do not want the future to which they condemn us, our slogan is “Love and rage, no macadam!” », declared during a press briefing Amalia, from Extinction Rébellion Toulouse, one of the collectives which called for mobilization against the A69 this weekend.
“There were already almost two thousand of us yesterday [Friday] evening. For the last mobilization in April, there were 8,200 of us and we hope to be as numerous today,” underlined Etienne Fauteux, from the same collective.
1,600 police and gendarmes deployed
Based on an IFOP survey carried out a few days ago among the population of Tarn and Haute-Garonne, Gilles Garric, of the La Voie est libre collective, declared that 61% of respondents were in favor of abandoning the highway project and that 82% of them voted for a local referendum.
“There is really public opinion which has turned in our favor and we are legitimate to continue to fight on all grounds,” he judged, while Lena, who spoke on behalf of the Uprisings of the Terre, considered that this highway project was “an example of the projects we are fighting against, the projects of the past.”
After a short suspension at the end of last week, the work of the A69, a section of motorway which would reduce the journey between Castres and Toulouse by around twenty minutes and must be put into service in 2025, resumed on Monday, the government saying he was “determined to see this project through, which was decided democratically and systematically confirmed by the judge.”
The opponents believe that all legal recourses have not been purged and believe that the project can still be abandoned, basing their hope on the success of the mobilization against the airport in Notre-Dame- des-Landes (Loire-Atlantique).
At a camp set up in Saïx (Tarn), about ten kilometers east of Castres, several thousand people began to gather under the sun and in calm before the start of a demonstration, scheduled for 12 p.m. 30.
Some 1,600 police officers and gendarmes are deployed for this mobilization, according to the prefecture, twice as many as during a previous demonstration against the A69 last spring.