Greta Thunberg joins banned French anti-motorway protest

SAÏX, (France): Climate activist Greta Thunberg Saturday joined a banned anti-motorway protest where police had fired tear gas and made arrests the previous day.

Thunberg came as part of a delegation of French, Belgian, Swedish and Spanish activists to the site near the southwestern city of Toulouse.

“We are here to stand in solidarity with the people who are resisting this project and this madness,” Thunberg told reporters, wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh.

“Unfortunately, these kinds of projects are not unique to France but are happening all over the world and are a symptom of a global crisis,” she said.

A global figure in the fight against climate change, Thunberg has been fined by one Swedish court for her direct-action protests there.

But she saw another case against her thrown out by an English court last week.

French authorities had banned the gathering in Saix, where a new motorway is planned, because of “risks of serious harm to public order”.

But protest organizers Cabanade had gone ahead with the protest and on Friday, French police fired tear gas and made arrests at the site.

The organisers had hoped for a big turnout Saturday, but only about a hundred showed up under a steady rain.

But about 350 metres away, activists had created a so-called “zone to be defended” (ZAD in French) on private land with camp toilets, signposts and cabins.

Police Friday cleared pallets and trolleys used to block a small road running alongside the field, which is close to the route of the planned A69 motorway linking Toulouse and the town of Castres, as well as alongside a rail line.

On Saturday they fired tear gas at the activists but didn’t penetrate into the ZAD itself, which is on private land and not infringing any laws. An AFP photographer saw activists return the tear gas cannisters with tennis rackets.