An intervention by the police is underway this Friday afternoon in the Tarn town of Saïx, in the immediate vicinity of a camp of opponents of the A69 motorway, the Tarn prefecture told AFP.
“This is an operation to secure the public highway”, involving “a squadron of gendarmes (90 gendarmes)”, specified a prefecture official, who indicated that “clashes” were taking place on site, without immediately giving further details.
The prefect of Tarn had announced a little earlier that he had “issued an order prohibiting demonstrations and gatherings” on Saturday and Sunday in Saïx (Tarn), where anti-A69 activists called for a “major mobilization event” on private land close to the route of the controversial highway.
Michel Vilbois, the prefect of the department, mentions in a press release “risks of major disturbances to public order” to justify his decision, taken following a “call for a rally on social networks against the A69 project”.
A collective of opponents of the A69 motorway, work on which continues between Toulouse and Castres, is calling to participate on Saturday and Sunday in Saïx in an event entitled “La Cabanade”, according to a press release released on Friday following other communications the last days.
This is "a major event of mobilization and construction around the ZAD (zone to defend, editor's note) of the Crém'arbre in Saïx, a place of occupation on the ground and in the trees in the last wood on the route of the A69,” said the collective.