In France, between 3,000 and 4,000 people demonstrated this Saturday, June 17 against the construction of a high-speed line supposed to link Lyon on the French side and Turin in Italy, via the Alps. The prefecture had banned all gatherings in nine municipalities. The protesters tried to circumvent this ban, and scuffles broke out with the police.
For the demonstrators, this day is a first victory. They managed to gather despite the bans, by meeting in a neighboring town not affected by the decrees of the prefecture.
The procession was quickly stopped by the police. Several thousand people were immobilized for more than two hours on a departmental road in full sun.
Elected officials tried to negotiate, with the representatives of the State, the continuation of the demonstration. But the route proposed by the prefecture did not suit the organizers.
It was then that the tension mounted. Protesters threw projectiles at the gendarmes, who responded with tear gas.
The vast majority of protesters decided to back down. Diehards remained.
And it was in groups that dozens of people tried to cross a river on foot, forming a human chain. Their goal: to reach the highway and block it, as they had blocked a railway line. The police stopped them.
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>> To read also: Lyon-Turin railway line: opponents demonstrate despite the ban