Five injured in clash between police and activists at highway protest in France June 9, 2024

Many of the protesters were masked and dressed in black (Ed JONES)

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Five injured in clash between police and activists at highway protest in France

Clashes broke out between police and masked activists at a demonstration against a highway project in southern France on Saturday, leaving five people injured, according to local authorities.

Thousands of demonstrators defied a ban on the assembly to protest at the construction site of the A-69 highway between Castres and Toulouse in southwestern France.

A police officer hit by a Molotov cocktail, two paramilitary gendarmes, and two demonstrators were injured in the clashes, according to regional authorities.

Environmentalists and left-wing activists are trying to prevent the construction of an extension to the highway, which scientists say will destroy wetlands, farmland, trees, and underground water sources.

The first clashes broke out around 3:00 p.m. (1300 GMT) when “radicalized protesters determined to commit violent acts” tried to reach a main road, a statement from local authorities said.

Riot police used tear gas to disperse the protesters and keep them away from the road leading to the construction site. Some of the protesters fired fireworks and threw Molotov cocktails at the security forces.

The prefecture of the Tarn region denounced “extremely violent attacks with catapults” and stated that there were “1,200 radicals” in the crowd.

They had “clearly come to cause damage that has nothing to do with the problem of the highway”, according to a statement by the prefect, Michel Vilbois.

“We must intervene,” said an activist from the climate campaign group Extinction Rebellion. “As long as we are there, the highway will not be built,” she added.

Organizers of the protest near the village of Puylaurens, called by the group Roue Libre, said 7,000 activists had turned out. The prefecture put the number at 1,600.

Around 1,600 police officers and gendarmes were deployed to deal with the protest.

The project, which began in early 2023, is supported by most local elected officials and is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2025.

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