On Tuesday 17 September, police continued to evacuate a property on the route of the future A69 motorway which had become the last stronghold of the opposition, the “squirrels”., perched on the trees at the site. A specialized unit, the National Mobility Support Unit (Cnamo), picked up some of them.
Of the forest that still covered most of Le Verger on Monday morning, a town located in Verfeil (Haute-Garonne), 25 kilometres from Toulouse, only a few scattered trees remain, noted an Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist.
The last tenant of the site, opposite which the A69 construction works were being carried out on a wide strip of flat land, has returned the keys to the concessionaire of the future motorway, Atosca, which has become the owner.
Its employees have been working since Monday afternoon, using chainsaws and backhoes, to remove the remains of vegetation from the site, under police protection.
“The goal is to cut down all the trees along the road route”summed up Colonel Stéphane Dlongeville, head of operations of the Haute-Garonne group.
The gate to the zone to be defended (ZAD) of Verger, which had been blocked by its occupants, was torn away in the early afternoon by the excavator.
“If it doesn’t end today, we’ll continue tomorrow”
Once access was opened, several dozen gendarmes in riot gear entered the site, followed by a crane with a basket.
The Cnamo team, a police unit whose mission, according to its presentation on the website of the Ministry of the Interior, is, in particular, “put an end to complex clashes between protesters”Very quickly they began to evacuate the Zadists who had settled in huts hanging from the branches, the “squirrels”, as they call themselves.
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“At first we invited them to come down alone, but later, if they refused, the Cannamon would pick them up.”Colonel Dlongeville declared.
One of the opponents escaped alone, while another was arrested by police and taken into custody, according to the officer. This scene was filmed and posted on the France Bleu Occitanie X account.
“We are still at six batches that are being processed gradually and probably between six and twelve people are currently in the trees”He detailed. Before adding: “If it doesn’t end today, we’ll continue tomorrow.”
There are no clashes to report
“We do not give up despite the intimidation, we always have about twenty squirrels at a time in the trees and on the roof”The house on the premises is also occupied, Gabriel (fictitious name), one of the occupants of the premises, told AFP.
The operations took place without any clashes, although the opposition denounced the actions of the excavator driver, which, according to them, endangered those present.
“The idea is to maintain the occupation as long as possible, we will resist, we will endure, we will show that we will not give up and that we will resist the bulldozer and this uproar”Gabriel explained.
The future A69, a 53-kilometre stretch of motorway between Toulouse and Castres, is a project initiated several decades ago, supported by the president of the Socialist Party in the Occitanie region, Carole Delga, and by several elected officials from the Tarn region, whose aim is to open up the south of this department.
For several months, the project has been the subject of heated protests with large rallies during which opponents have clashed with the police.
Environmental groups and movements are denouncing a project that they consider to be from another era, synonymous with the destruction of agricultural land and all the biodiversity (trees, ecosystems and water tables) that they consider essential to protect in the era of climate change.
