On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, under the cui-cui of robins, some 200 demonstrators stroll with signs in hand in the alleys of the Bois de Vincennes to gather at the foot of old pedunculate oaks. Their venerable trunks are girded with a black crepe ribbon, as a sign of mourning.
Because under this portion of the wood should pass, by 2035, a new section of the metro.
The authorities want to extend line 1, which currently ends at the Château de Vincennes, by 5 kilometers and three stations in the eastern suburbs of Paris.
This work requires the felling of trees on a small segment of the Bois de Vincennes, on the northern edge of this listed green lung. Even if other species will be replanted later, this point crystallizes the opposition to the project, for which the public inquiry opened at the end of January ends on Wednesday March 2.
This forest, Cécile Toison is familiar with. In the early morning and late at night, this local resident of Vincennes crosses it on her bike to pick up or leave her service at the hospital.
Along the way, "I meet the famous fox, the famous hedgehog, the famous squirrel. What right do we still allow ourselves today to have this supremacy over the animal world?" worries AFP this 46-year-old childcare nurse, who came to demonstrate against the planned construction site.
The anti-work petition has garnered 65.000 signatures.
But in this case, neither side has a monopoly on ecology.
On the side of the defenders of the extension of the oldest metro line in France, inaugurated in 1900, it is recalled that it must open up several districts of Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne and thus reduce the carbon footprint of their inhabitants.
Fewer cars
On the heights of Montreuil, the popular district of Bel Air-Grands Pêchers, marked by a high unemployment rate and a major urban renewal program, will thus benefit from its own station. This will put the Gare de Lyon in 15 minutes, against 35 on average with current transport.
The metro "would make it possible on the one hand to reduce the use of the car, and on the other hand more freedom for the inhabitants to move, to work, to study", points out Haby Ka, municipal councilor (PCF) of Montreuil and elected of the district.
"People tell us + they talk to us about the wood but it's just a pretext, they don't want to see suburbanites take the 1+", she relates, "it's a bit of a class struggle issue ."
Considered since the mid-1990s, this program is part of a more general trend of extension in the inner suburbs of the metro lines which have stopped for decades at the gates of the capital.
A sign of the passions aroused by the arrival of the metro, one evening in mid-February, hundreds of curious people converged on a gymnasium in Fontenay-sous-Bois for an information meeting.
Along the streets, canary yellow balloons - the color of line 1 - are hung on billboards and lampposts, as if to celebrate a birthday.
Dozens of people remain blocked in front of the room by the security service. Inside, the atmosphere is electric. We applaud, we boo. "For those who lead a rearguard fight, you have to think about humans!" protests a man. "Denial of democracy!" shouts a pro-tree activist.
The president of the public inquiry commission tries to calm the spirits: "this is not a forum, we are between responsible people..."
With an announced cost of 1,5 billion euros excluding taxes, the extension of line 1 should transport 95.000 passengers per day. The work is currently scheduled to be carried out between 2028 and 2035. But beware of disruptions...