The last trees in the old zad at cal'arbre have been cut down. Opponents of A69 call for a rally in Saïx (Tarn). The prefecture has just banned all gatherings in the city until Monday.
In a context still tense around the construction site of the A69 highway, which will link Castres with Toulouse, the prefecture of Tarn assures in a press release that “deforestation operations have been completed in the department”.
On August 30, a large mobilization of several hundred gendarmes led to the evacuation of the so-called “cal'arbre” zad, in Saïx, where several activists had settled, including in the trees that were to be cut by the Atosca dealer. .
An activist was also injured by falling a few meters from the top of a structure built by the Zadis and sustained fractured vertebrae.
This Friday, the prefecture of Tarn therefore considers that the operation is completed: “one opponent remains, alone, hanging in a single tree. Clearing this tree is not necessary for the continuation of the project and can be done later.”
However, she asks the activist to come down, citing the danger of the situation given the condition of the tree.
Two activists injured, then taken into police custody
This morning, Friday, a final operation was carried out by CNAMO gendarmes, the national operational mobility support cell, to bring down three activists from the trees. Two of them fell during the police intervention and were slightly injured. Released from the hospital during the day, they were placed in police custody. The third “squirrel” was arrested and taken into custody without incident.
On the side of the opponents, the Zadis spoke in a statement of their “immense anger” and think that “NGE-Atosca is covering itself with shame that only fire could dry it. Only fire”. The collective La Voie est Libre, for its part, called a rally on Friday at 5 p.m. in Saïx, evoking a desperate young man “who has no other way than more and more radical means of struggle. […] against these climate-killing projects that destroy living things and therefore their future”. They renew their request for a moratorium.
The Tarn prefecture, for its part, has banned “any assembly on the territory of Saïx” until Monday at 12:00 and announces that “no attempt to damage the equipment and installations belonging to the companies will be tolerated.”