The evacuation of the area to be defended (ZAD) of the Triangle de Gonesse (Val-d'Oise) began on Tuesday 23 February via a police device deployed on this site, occupied for seventeen days to protest against the creation of a future Grand Paris metro station, AFP learned from activists.
Read also: In the triangle of Gonesse, a ZAD to oppose the urbanization of land
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The ZAD is in the process of being expelled,
" said Bernard Loup, president of the Collectif pour le Triangle de Gonesse (CPTG), which is not at the origin of this illegal occupation but actively supported it.
"
The CRS arrived around 6:00 am, we are surrounded, they invaded the ZAD,
" an activist on the spot told AFP.
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For the moment inside there has been no violence or confrontation,
" said Mr. Loup, kept a few tens of meters away.
"
Buses are in front of the front door, they will get them on board shortly,
" he added.
About thirty activists, three times as many at weekends, have been present permanently since February 7 on this land, on which makeshift huts have been built.
They defend an alternative agricultural project and denounce the artificialization of these lands considered fertile, which are to accommodate the future station of line 17 of the Grand Paris Express, as well as a possible activity zone with still unclear outlines.
On Friday, the Pontoise court ordered the immediate evacuation of the land, owned by the Ile-de-France Public Land Establishment (EPFIF).
Mr. Loup had indicated Monday evening that he had just been notified of this decision.
Line 17 is to connect Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis) to Roissy-CDG airport in 2030, passing through the Triangle de Gonesse, where it was initially intended to serve the Europacity shopping and leisure mega-complex.
But since Emmanuel Macron announced in November 2019 the abandonment of this flagship project, the fate of these 280 hectares of agricultural land, strategically located about fifteen kilometers north of Paris, remains uncertain.
