A69 motorway: opponents voluntarily come down from trees

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: ED JONES / AFP 5:40 p.m., March 24, 2024

Three opponents of the A69 voluntarily came down from the trees on Sunday where they camped for nearly 40 days, on the route of the future Toulouse-Castres motorway, in Tarn, noted an AFP photographer. These three "squirrels", the last to have been perched for 39 days in the "Zone to defend" (ZAD) of the "Crem'arbre", in Saïx, claim to have obtained guarantees on the preservation of these trees. They were greeted below by more than 200 opponents, under the watchful eye of several dozen gendarmes. Two other people, including one disguised as a squirrel, then managed to climb into the trees, where they were still late Sunday afternoon.

“We were hungry”

For the collective of opponents, the Way is Free, these trees cannot be felled before September, after the recent arrival on the site of officials from the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB). “The OFB certifies that the site is protected until September 1,” said Anna, 25, from Lille, one of the three “squirrels” descended on Sunday. The Toulouse public prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into the possible nesting of blue tits that could be affected by a cull, he told AFP. He also confirmed the arrival of the OFB, without providing further details on this subject.

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“If we hadn't been there, this wood would have been completely razed,” said Reva, 36, another “squirrel” who came down on Sunday, originally from the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. “If the presence of tits is confirmed, we will not cut down these trees,” the general director of the Atosca concessionaire, Martial Gerlinger, told AFP. According to him, “it has no impact” on the progress of the project. “We will cut them later,” he said. Some trees of the “Crem’arbre” have already been cut down.

During the stay in the trees of the "squirrels" descended on Sunday, "around a hundred mobile gendarmes", according to the prefecture, took turns at times day and night, preventing opponents with tear gas from supplying the activists at height, according to several videos posted on Instagram. “We were hungry,” Reva said. Opponents of the A69 are campaigning for a suspension of work while waiting for an appeal on the merits against the project to be examined by administrative justice. A second ZAD was created a little over a month ago a few kilometers from “Crem’arbre”.