Towards the end of the ZAD?
The police who surround the trees at the top of which opponents of the A69 motorway are camped in Saïx, in Tarn, began on Monday to prepare to dislodge them, according to corroborating sources.
On Monday, a basket was installed to climb to the top of one of the trees where opponents live in cabins to prevent the Toulouse-Castres motorway construction site from continuing.
This pod allowed the police to destroy a platform of this Zone to Defend (ZAD) which was located in this tree.
#A69 🔴 The
climbers unit of the @Gendarmerie has just arrived on the Zad, objective ➡️ to bring down the “squirrels” installed in the trees to delay the construction of the Castres - Toulouse motorway at Saix (81) pic. twitter.com/8DfLmEVGaq
— 100% Radio (@100pour100radio) February 19, 2024
However, the opponents, called "squirrels", retreated to another part of the wood out of reach of the basket, using a system of ropes allowing them to pass from one tree to another without having to get off.
During the operation, some 50 activists encouraged them, shouting “Resist!”
» or “Courage squirrels!”
".
A “clean-up operation”
The gondola then left, provoking cries of joy from the opponents.
“One more day for the living!”
» shouted one of them.
According to the prefecture, “an operation to clean the area” took place on Monday, after the intervention of a bailiff “on the site illegally occupied by opponents of the A69”.
Then “the CNAMO (national mobility support unit) arrived in the area in order to bring down the opponents of the A69 installed in the trees,” she added in a press release.
According to an opponent who requested anonymity, “four climbers came to tell the
squirrels
that they had 15 minutes to come down.
Then they left,” he added.
Atosca, the concessionaire designated by the State, believes that since February 15 it has the right to resume tree cutting on the route.
For the Way is free, the wood occupied by the zadists being of “strong environmental concern”, it can only be cleared between September 1 and October 15.
Four associations thus filed an “environmental criminal summary” on February 9 with the Toulouse public prosecutor’s office to prohibit the resumption of land clearing.