On the route of the A69, three “squirrels” perched and a construction site which continues to advance

From a distance, their hanging installations look like large flags caught in branches. Closer, we can see boards, tents and cans, and it is up there, several dozen meters away, that the three "squirrels" are opposing the felling of the trees in which they have an address.

At the edge of the small wood in which clear cuts have already been made, in the town of Saïx (Tarn), "around a hundred mobile gendarmes", according to the prefecture, take turns day and night, preventing the a few dozen opponents of the A69, who are camping nearby, to resupply the activists at height, according to several videos posted on Instagram.

Reached by telephone by AFP, two of the three activists, Reva, a 36-year-old landscape gardener from the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and Anna, a 25-year-old speech therapist from Lille, denounce a "siege" which puts them in danger and undermines their “legitimate right to demonstrate”.

They claim to survive on salt, sugar, water and plane tree buds.

Suspension requested

They are campaigning for a suspension of work while waiting for an appeal on the merits against the highway project to be examined by administrative justice. So far, all appeals filed by opponents have been rejected by the various courts.

A parliamentary commission of inquiry is also looking into the “financial and legal arrangement of the A69 project”.

“We are here to ensure the safety of the trees, as long as the moratorium is not declared, personally, I am not going down,” assures Anna.

Contacted by AFP, the Tarn prefecture is considering "continuing negotiations with the last three opponents", noting that there were "fourteen at the start".

“The interventions are carried out in strict compliance with the security conditions of the opponents, who must not put themselves in danger in the event of an intervention,” she declares. Regarding their diet, “opponents who wish to obtain food must come down from the tree they occupy,” she specifies.

“Contrary to the information relayed by social networks, opponents of the A69 construction site illegally occupying trees on private land (...) are not deprived of water or medicine,” she added. in a press release.

“The negotiation is at a standstill because the State refuses to reopen democratic work” on the A69, believes Etienne, activist of the collective opposed to the motorway “The road is free”, met at the “rear base ""squirrels" on nearby land, owned by a farmer from the Confédération paysanne.

"Some trees"

The agricultural union intends to defend the "squirrels" against "the caricatures" making them "pass for gentle enlightened people while they put their lives in danger to defend the living", according to Daniel Coutarel, one of its members from Tarn, on the spot.

For the future highway concessionaire, the ongoing opposition actions do not disrupt the progress of the work. “At this stage, this has no impact on the schedule, we are still on motorway delivery at the end of 2025,” Martial Gerlinger, general manager of Atosca A69, explained to AFP.

“The construction site is continuing well, there is work on around 40 sites along the route, work is happening everywhere,” he underlined.

In a few days, the work should ramp up, according to Mr. Gerlinger. “We have 800 people working, there will be 1.200 in the spring when the earthworks are really in full swing.”

“If there are a few trees left, as is the case today, that does not stop us from working nearby,” he finally said.