"Thousands protest against A69 Toulouse-Castres motorway project for climate emergency"

2023-04-22 20:55:50

Between 4,500 people, according to the prefecture, and 8,200 people, according to the organizers, took part in the rally.

Article written by

Published on 22/04/2023 22:55

Reading time : 1 min.

Protesters opposed to the A69 motorway project linking Castres and Toulouse, April 22, 2023, in Saix (Tarn). (LIONEL BONAVENTURE / AFP) — Protesters opposed to the A69 motorway project linking Castres and Toulouse, April 22, 2023, in Saix (Tarn). (LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP)

Several thousand opponents of the A69 Toulouse-Castres motorway demonstrated on Saturday April 22 in Saïx (Tarn) to denounce a project that they consider contradictory with the climate emergency.. Between 4,500 people, according to the prefecture, and 8,200 people, according to the organizers, walked all afternoon on paths and through the woods, following part of the route of the future highway.

The organizers of the mobilization, the collective La Voie est libre, Extinction Rebellion, the Confédération paysanne and the Uprisings of the Earth have asked “immediate stop” of the construction site, which should connect the Tarn city to the Toulouse metropolis in 2025. During a press conference, they proposed a development of the existing national road and denounced the loss of agricultural land or biodiversity that the construction of this 53 km stretch of motorway would entail.

The A69 motorway project would reduce the journey between Castres and Toulouse by about twenty minutes, compared to a little over an hour’s drive today. Elected officials opposed to the site denounced Friday its “total contradiction with the climate emergency”, pointing to the disappearance of agricultural land or the risk of a greater concentration of population in the Toulouse metropolis. They propose to strengthen the rail link between the two cities, to meet the needs of the population.