La Dépêche du Midi / Monday, October 21, 2024
At least seven trucks burned. A fire broke out on the night of Sunday 20 to Monday 21 October at the Spie Batignolles company in Toulouse, chemin de Gabardie in the Gramont district.
Residents heard explosions coming from the premises of the public works company. Firefighters were called around 4 a.m. for a fire involving 7 dump trucks in the parking lot of the Spie Batignolles company and managed to control the flames. At the height of the intervention, 3 fire-fighting vehicles and 17 firefighters were deployed.
On site Monday morning, the smell of burnt material is persistent. Seven charred wrecks are parked side by side. The front facades of these vehicles are completely charred. A member of the management is appalled: “No doubt it is an arson, we do not wish to say more for the moment.” The company Malet-Spie Batignolles is a regular contractor for highway companies, and it is notably involved in the A69 construction site, which has been denounced by environmental activists.
Given the carcasses still in the parking lot, the fire(s) would have been started at the cabins. The rear of the vehicles was less affected by the flames. The arsonists would likely have used an ignition liquid. Did the fire then spread to the other vehicles? Possible. According to our information, the Spie Batignolles site was under video surveillance and two hooded individuals were reportedly seen on the recordings, entering the construction company’s site around 3:20 AM. Before leaving a few minutes later, as the fire began to spread.
Anti-A69 tags were visible this Monday morning near the site, did they date from the night of the events? Impossible to say. An investigation has been opened by the Toulouse prosecutor’s office, particularly for voluntary destruction by fire. The damage amounts to more than 2 million euros.
This is not the first time a company linked to the A69 construction site has been targeted in Haute-Garonne. At the beginning of January, Camille S., a philosophy professor, was sentenced in Toulouse to eight months in prison with a suspended sentence for his involvement in the deliberate arson of two vehicles belonging to the company NGE – the concessionaire of the A69 motorway – in Muret on February 10, 2023.
At the hearing, Camille S. admitted to his involvement in militant actions, particularly against Lafarge and Enedis in Limoges, but denied any involvement in the Muret fire. Listed as an S, her DNA had been found on a fence near the scene of the incident. The prosecution had requested one year in prison, with six months suspended, against the teacher, who resides in an “associative house” in Verfeil-sur-Seye. (Tarn- et-Garonne). In the Tarn department, on the A69 construction site, deliberate damage has multiplied in recent months (see our box), is the phenomenon spreading to the Toulouse region?
According to a count established by La Dépêche du Midi, at least 13 vehicles have been set on fire—11 on the construction site—on the sidelines of the A69 highway project, mainly in the Tarn department. According to the NGE – Atosca concessionaire, 311 acts of vandalism (stone-throwing, tagging, arson) had been recorded to date, at the beginning of September. 158 incidents have led to the filing of complaints. The most notable sabotage recently was the fire of a formwork intended for pouring the foundation of a bridge in Saïx (Tarn) at the end of August.
According to actuToulouse, same date:
[…] The explosions perceived by the residents were nothing more than the tires of heavy trucks subjected to temperatures too extreme for them to withstand.
Specialized in construction work, the company Spie Batignolles is involved in two major projects at the moment in the Toulouse region: the C line of the Toulouse metro; and also the A69 motorway, which will connect Toulouse to Castres. A construction site that has been the subject of intense protests for many months, from environmental activists.
[…] The investigation opened by the police services is leaning towards the criminal track. What takes on the contours of an act of vandalism is corroborated by a video showing intruders entering the site from the back, crossing a fence located by the Hers River. The footage from the surveillance cameras is currently being analyzed by investigators from the Judicial Support Group. (GAJ).
“They revealed the presence within the company premises of two individuals dressed in black and wearing hoods,” testified a police source to Actu Toulouse. The investigators also noted “multiple outbreaks of fire.”
According to our journalist on site, the company Spie Batignolles has previously been the target of graffiti from opponents of the A69. In February 2024, a “No A69 Assassins” had been scrawled on a sign at the entrance of the company. Erased immediately afterward.
Other tags stain this morning on huge concrete blocks lined up in front of Spie Batignolles – “Assassins No A69” “We said no” – without knowing if they are recent or not. An employee encountered near the site claims they are old.
Source: Attaque