It was blocked since midday by hundreds of protesters …
Police stormed the protestors after several failed negotiations. The security forces intervened in Nantes on Saturday night to release the Chevire bridge and ring road in Nantes blocked by several hundred opponents against the airport in Notre-Dame-des-Landes since mid-day, after a new show of force mobilizing Thousands of protesters opposed to the project.
RT :@LouisWitter alors que les tracteurs partaient, la police a tiré des dizaines de capsules de gaz #NDDL pic.twitter.com/81JOSb1VzV
— Gilles Klein (@GillesKLEIN) January 9, 2016
The intervention of hundreds of CRS, along with a water cannon and a large tow truck has resulted in a significant clash with protestors, with tear gas used just before midnight at 11:45 p.m..
The demonstrators then lit a wildfire on the path, but that was quickly extinguished by the water cannon from the police shortly after midnight. The first of about 60 tractors began to maneouver to voluntarily leave the Chevire bridge to the west of Nantes. Shortly before one o’clock Sunday morning they were all gone of the bridge, exiting by the ramps, southbound.
More than 20,000 demonstrators
“The guarantee given by organizers to leave the bridge and ring road in the late afternoon was not respected,” regretted the prefect of Loire-Atlantique in a statement about midnight. “The prefect has decided to evacuate the site. It called on demonstrators to act in a responsible way and to leave in peace. “
