2023-06-17 14:17:49
Brief scuffles took place on Saturday shortly following the start of the demonstration once morest the Lyon-Turin high-speed rail line, which brought together nearly 5,000 environmental demonstrators according to the organizers – more than 3,000 according to the authorities – in the Maurienne valley (Savoie ) in neighboring France.
“Use of tear gas by the security forces to keep hostile demonstrators at a distance following the throwing of projectiles”, indicated the gendarmerie.
A dozen organizations
The procession had moved off calmly in the middle of the day at the call of a dozen organizations, including the Uprisings of the Earth, threatened with dissolution by the Ministry of the Interior, and the Italian No-Tav, mobilized once morest a “pharaonic” project deemed “harmful” for the environment, biodiversity and water resources.
The camp of the demonstrators on Saturday in the early morning. [Coppelia Piccolo – RTS]The departure of this undeclared demonstration took place from the neighboring town of La Chapelle, located outside the prefectural prohibition perimeter.
“Our number is a political signal (…) a few days ago, the pro Lyon-Turin met, they were only 100, we are thousands to say that we want this useless project to be stopped”, declared LFI parliamentary leader Mathilde Panot, present in the procession with several elected Greens and LFI, before the incidents.
“There was no reason not to authorize this demonstration as long as it is in a non-violent spirit and we will always advocate the logic of non-violence”, for her part underlined Senator EELV Fabienne Grebert.
Negotiations
The police especially fear punching actions from small refractory groups, according to a police source. At least thirty “foreigners under administrative ban from the territory were arrested and handed over to the Italians”, according to the prefecture of Savoy.
Giga tunnel the 60 km long
Demonstrators gathered to demonstrate once morest the construction of the Lyon-Turin high-speed rail line. [Coppelia Piccolo – RTS]Supported by the European Union, the new line should eventually link Lyon and Turin, with 70% of the tracks in France and 30% in Italy, with a 57.5 km tunnel crossing the Alps between Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and Susa. Estimated cost: more than 26 billion euros.
Proponents of the project highlight the need to reduce the flow of heavy goods vehicles, which is constantly increasing, to limit greenhouse gas emissions. They also point to the economic development that they believe a faster rail line will allow.
Opponents argue that a line already exists and that rail freight has been falling steadily in recent years. They also denounce the ecological impacts of this “titanic railway project, involving the drilling of 260 km of galleries through the Alpine massifs”. According to them, the work has already dried up several springs and catchments in the valley.
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