Opponents of the A69 Toulouse-Castres – some of whom are already camping in plane trees or in the open field in Saïx, in the Tarn – began to gather on Saturday April 22 on the future route of this highway. The mobilization is closely followed by the authorities: 800 gendarmes and police are mobilized but the prefect of the Tarn, François-Xavier Lauch, assured that they would stay behind if the demonstration was “peaceful”. Some 2,000 people are expected to attend the march and the weekend’s activities, including concerts and a race of “cars” going “as slowly as possible”.
The demonstration takes place less than a month after the violent clashes between gendarmes and demonstrators against “megabasins” in Sainte-Soline, in Deux-Sèvres. But, unlike the mobilization of March 25, the march against the highway project is authorized. There is “no intelligence that shows that in the Tarn people have an absolute desire for violence”, also underlined Friday the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin.
On Saturday morning, before the start of the demonstration, a dozen representatives of the organizers, including the local collective La Voie est libre, Extinction Rebellion, the Confédération paysanne and Les Uprisings of the Earth (SLT), called for an “immediate halt” of the construction site.
During a press conference, they recalled their proposal for the development of the existing national road and denounced the loss of agricultural land or biodiversity that the construction of this 53 kilometer section of motorway would entail. They also deplored the price of the Toulouse-Castres trip, which could reach 17 euros round trip, “an organized social injustice”, according to a representative of the SLT.
“Contradiction with the climate emergency”
Elected officials opposed to the project also denounced Friday its “total contradiction with the climate emergency”. “There is still a chance to stop [the construction site], even if it is slim”, declared to Vendine Gilbert Hébrard, former mayor of this commune of Haute-Garonne, at the limit of the Tarn, where opponents have since several weeks erected tents in plane trees to prevent them from being felled. “This project has become emblematic of the climate fight,” added Sabine Mousson, mayor of Teulat, a Tarn town which, she said, would be “cut in two” by the future highway.
Also present at this press conference, elected officials pointed to the disappearance of agricultural land or the risk of a greater concentration of population in the Toulouse metropolis. Antoine Maurice, head of the list of Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV) narrowly beaten in the municipal elections in Toulouse in 2020, proposed to strengthen the Toulouse-Castres rail link, with a train every hour instead of ten per currently day.
But other elected officials from the Tarn, from all political stripes, support this motorway project, which would reduce the Castres-Toulouse journey by around twenty minutes in 2025 – lasting just over an hour today. today. Atosca, private concessionaire of the A69, describes its project as “exemplary” in terms of respect for the environment or job creation. Regarding agricultural land, the planned footprint has been reduced from 380 to 300 hectares, according to its director general, Martial Gerlinger.
The Ministry of Transport said that Clément Beaune had requested a review of seven motorway projects in January, “in view of current issues: the fight against the artificialization of soils, reduction of CO2 emissions, but also opening up of territories”. “The A69 project is no exception to this review process”, adds the ministry, while qualifying because of its state of progress: “the work has started, and a contract binding the State has been signed with the dealer “.
