On Sunday, six opponents of the Toulouse-Castres motorway project (the famous A69) were arrested after a banned demonstration in Saïx (Tarn) during which gendarmes were injured.
According to the prefecture, which had banned this demonstration,
“150 people violently attacked the police, targeted by Molotov cocktail throwing”.
At the same time, two construction machines from a cement factory several hundred meters from the Zone to Defend (ZAD) created by the opponents were
“set on fire by demonstrators”
, affirmed the prefecture.
According to Bernard Cottaz, member of the Voie est libre collective, opposed to this highway project, the said demonstrators wanted to supply activists who are camping on the trees to prevent the resumption of the construction site.
The gendarmes allegedly resorted to
“massive use of tear gas”.
Still according to Bertrand Cottaz,
“there was indeed a fire but not at all where the demonstrators were”
.
For Gérald Darmanin,
“the police have been facing great violence for several days from those seeking to reconstitute a new ZAD on the A69 work site”
.
On Friday, several associations, including Attac and the Human Rights League, denounced
“excesses”
by the police around the ZAD, accusing them in particular of depriving activists camping on the trees of any possibility of supply.