While the gendarmes killed the “squirrels” one by one – These anti-A69 activists perched in trees – on Wednesday 18 September, in Verfeil (Haute-Garonne), one of them fell, on the third day of an operation by the gendarmerie in the last zone of opposition to the motorway, noted an Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist.
At midday, the man fell 5 to 6 metres from one of the trees still standing at this place called “Le Verger”, 25 kilometres from Toulouse, right on the route of the future motorway.
The circumstances of the accident differ according to the sources. Opponents blame the action of the National Unit for Support to Mobility (Cnamo), a unit of the gendarmerie specialized in arresting protesters and mobilizing on the spot, while, according to the police, these specialized soldiers were not in the tree occupied by the activist.
The man, conscious after his fall, was evacuated by SAMU to a hospital in Toulouse. According to the first information provided by the gendarmerie to AFP, he suffered a fractured femur. The occupants of the Verger, for their part, spoke of “several fractures” for the activist.
A dozen opponents remained on the roof of the occupied house
In total, in addition to this hospitalised activist, four “squirrels” were evicted on Wednesday, after the two who had been forced or voluntarily removed the day before. At least four trees remained occupied by six activists on Wednesday afternoon. A dozen opponents were also on the roof of the squatted house on the site, and finally, another fifteen were present on the ground, shouting encouragement to the “squirrels” or insulting the police.
The operation, which took place without clashes and in relative calm, aimed to destroy everything that was preventing the continuation of the work on the A69, marked at the gates of Verger by a wide strip of flattened land.
For several months, the construction of these 53 kilometres of motorway, which should connect Toulouse to Castres by the end of 2025, has been the subject of heated debate. While the project is supported by several local elected officials in the name of opening up the south of the Tarn department, such as the president of the Occitanie region, Carole Delga (Socialist Party), it is questioned by environmental and scientific movements who see it as anachronistic and destructive of biodiversity in times of climate change.
