While some 2,000 people are expected to attend this event and the weekend's activities, including concerts and a race of "
racing cars
" going "
as slowly as possible
", elected officials opposed to the project denounced Friday its "
total contradiction with the 'climate emergency
'.
"
This project has become emblematic of the climate fight
," said Sabine Mousson, mayor of Teulat, a Tarn town which would, she said, be "
cut in two
" by the future highway.
Events and festive activities
The prefect of Tarn, François-Xavier Lauch, clarified Friday evening that the 800 gendarmes and police officers mobilized will remain in the background if the demonstration is "
peaceful
".
Until then, the dispute had centered in recent weeks near the village of Vendine, in Haute-Garonne, on the edge of the Tarn, where opponents had settled in tents hung on large plane trees to avoid the attack. slaughter.
Read also“We are taken for less than nothing”: the distress of farmers facing the future Toulouse-Castres motorway
The deputy EELV Julien Bayou described as "
anachronistic
" this project of "
the most expensive highway in France
", Saturday on franceinfo.
But other elected officials from the Tarn support the project, which would reduce the Castres-Toulouse journey by around twenty minutes in 2025, from a duration of just over an hour today.
For its part, Atosca, private concessionaire of the A69, qualifies it as “
exemplary
” for the environment or employment.
Regarding agricultural land, the planned footprint has been reduced from 380 to 300 hectares, according to its general manager Martial Gerlinger.
"Discuss it, but not fight it" -
The Ministry of Transport indicated that Clément Beaune had requested in January a review of the seven motorway projects in progress, "
in view of the current challenges: fight against the artificialization of the soil, reduction of CO2 emissions, but also opening up of the 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
”.
The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, warned on Friday that "
we can debate it, but not fight it out
", adding however that there is "no information which shows that in the Tarn people have a absolute desire for violence.