The young environmental activist Greta Thunberg, 21, will take part on Saturday in Saïx, in Tarn, in a mobilization organized against the A69 motorway project, we learned on Friday from the activist collectives organizing this demonstration banned by the prefecture.
“We are pleased to announce that a national and international delegation of climate activists will be present at La Cabanade this weekend.
We thus confirm the presence of Greta Thunberg at our side,” indicated in a press release the No Macadam collective, which is one of the groups opposed to the construction of this motorway linking Toulouse to Castres, work on which continues.
“This allows the fight against the A69 to be fully registered at the international and national level and encourages political leaders to take stock of their stubbornness,” adds the collective, which indicates that the “Cabanade will stand stronger than ever”.
A forbidden gathering
The “Cabanade” is the name given to the two days of awareness of environmental issues, with workshops, round tables and even concerts on the program all weekend.
It must take place on private wooded land which is the subject of a dispute linked to an expropriation of its owner due to the construction of the highway.
On Friday, the prefect of Tarn banned this weekend's gathering, citing "risks of major disturbances to public order", then around a hundred gendarmes intervened around the activists' camp, using tear gas.
The operation “made it possible to dismantle the booby-trapped barricades installed, seize the various materials intended for the construction of cabins and restore order,” welcomed the prefecture.
“Dear Greta Thunberg (…) the A69 motorway responds to a vital need for Tarn and its inhabitants”, for his part declared in a press release the president of the Tarn departmental council, Christophe Ramond, adding that his department “n 'has no lessons to learn in terms of sustainable development'.