Editorial photo #11090633 Social Issue
A69: Mp Anne Stambach Terrenoir Blocked By Police To Supplu 'Ecureuils' With Food And Medecines
MP Anne Stambach-Terrenoir is speaking with a Gendarme Mobile while a local TV station is filming the scene where police officers are refusing to allow the MP to supply the 'Ecureuils'. Despite the legally binding report from Michel Forst, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, which demands the resupply of 'Ecureuils' who are standing in the trees of the 'Crem'Arbre' ZAD (Zone To Defend), activists from LVEL (La Voie Est Libre, meaning 'The Way Is Free') and MP Anne Stambach-Terrenoir are trying unsuccessfully to deliver a doctor's prescription and medicine to an 'Ecureuil'. The 'Ecureuils' and their trees have been besieged by police for more than a month. The police officers are also refusing to deliver the medicines to the 'Ecureuils' or to allow journalists to do their job. In Saix, Tarn, France, on the planned A69 highway between Toulouse and Castres, opponents have installed a ZAD called 'Crem'Arbre', and 'Ecureuils' (meaning 'squirrels') are living in the trees to prevent them from being cut down. The Gendarmes Mobiles (riot police) are standing guard near the trees occupied by 'Ecureuils' to prevent the supply of food and water by sympathizers. The main collective 'La Voie est Libre' wants the highway project to be halted until all judicial decisions on the matter are made. All expropriations for farmers have not been cleared. Opponents of the project argue that the reprofiling of the N126 would be sufficient for the 6,000 vehicles planned per day and would cost far less money. The A69 highway is projected to cost EUR512 million (in 2018 euros, excluding inflation) for 53 kilometers, and its construction would destroy more than 100 protected species and 400 hectares of agricultural land. The photo was taken in Saix, Tarn, France, on March 22, 2024. (Photo by Alain Pitton/NurPhoto)
