"Children in danger, we want the truth": about fifty parents of students demonstrated Monday, September 2, day of school, in the streets of Conques-sur-Orbiel, in the Aude, to denounce the pollution related to the old arsenic mine and aggravated by the severe floods of October 2018, AFP journalists noted.
Starting from the primary school, they went to the town hall of this locality in the Orbiel valley, parading behind a white banner with red and black writing: "Children in danger, we want the truth".
"46 children contaminated with arsenic !!! When will the next !!!"
Some demonstrators were wearing hygiene masks on their mouths, like this mother with a sign: "46 children contaminated with arsenic !!! When will the next !!!" and another: "Sanitary risk: arsenic, flood".
The town is located downstream of the Salsigne gold and arsenic mine, closed in 2004, which left millions of tons of toxic waste, arsenic, sulfur and other metals. The terrible thunderstorms that fell in October 2018 caused runoff to rivers, including the Orbiel.
A primary school suspected to be polluted
In Conques, the schools at the bottom of the village were flooded. While kindergarten moved to a non-flood zone, primary classes received the children on Monday, September 2, reviving the "fear and anger" of parents who suspect an arsenic-polluted facility.
The prefecture assured Wednesday, August 28 that the school, like two others in the sector, "has a waterproof coating put in place before or after the flood," making "impossible contact with a soil possibly soiled. The locals do so "to date" "no risk to students and staff," she said.
Nearly fifty children in the valley are currently overexposed to arsenic. According to the Regional Health Agency (ARS) Occitanie, "arsenic is a carcinogenic toxic" in case of chronic exposure, with also possible effects including dermatological, cardiovascular and respiratory.