A69 Motorway: Fines Required Against "Squirrels" Who Perched in Trees to Block Construction Site

Can one be convicted for attempting to prevent work later deemed illegal? This was the question the Castres court addressed on Tuesday, May 6. Opponents of the construction of the A69 between Toulouse and Castres were on trial for blocking the progress of the construction of this 53-kilometer road, the authorization for which has since been invalidated. After more than two hours of hearing, the Castres prosecutor requested suspended fines of €3,000 against the five "squirrels" for "violently opposing or assaulting the execution of public works or works of public utility." Between February and March 2024, they perched about twenty meters above the ground to prevent the felling of oak and plane trees in the Crémade region. This small wood, located on the route of the future motorway in Saïx, had been renamed the Crem'Arbre zone to defend (ZAD) by opponents.

After weeks of occupation on the ground and in the branches, the last activists voluntarily came down from their makeshift cabin on March 24, 2024. Three days earlier, they had obtained a reprieve: the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) certified that several protected species nested in this small wood, confirming its classification in the category of high ecological importance. This implied that no tree felling would take place outside the period from September ¹ to November 15.

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