Working class and progressive sections in France and Italy have condemned the crackdown by French security forces on protestors opposing the Treno ad Alta Velocità (TAV), the Turin-Lyon high-speed/high-capacity railway, on Saturday, June 17. Activists from both the countries had organized a two-day demonstration at Maurienne Valley in Savoie in southeastern France to oppose the high-speed railway line.
On the call given by the No TAV movement, Soulèvements de la Terre (Earth Uprisings), and others, around 5,000 protesters from France and Italy gathered for the massive two-day demonstration. According to reports, around 50 people were injured in the police crackdown, with two suffering serious injuries.
The demonstration had been banned by Savoie departmental prefect François Ravier, and the Italian and French security forces blocked around 10 buses carrying activists from Italy at the Frejus tunnel on the Italy-France border. Various groups including Potere al Popolo from Italy (Power to the People) and La France Insoumise (LFI) extended their solidarity to the activists.
The No TAV movement shared a shocking video on Facebook on Saturday showing a grenade fired by the security forces hitting a photographer. According to the movement, the photographer was seriously injured.
The No TAV movement began in the Susa Valley of Italy in 1990 in opposition to the proposed Turin–Lyon high-speed/high-capacity international railway project, or TAV. It questioned the viability and safety of the project and its actualization with an estimated expenditure of 25+ billion euros (USD 27.27+ billion). The movement accused the project of being driven by European construction lobbies, and instead advocated for upgrading the existing infrastructure. Earlier also, multiple protests by the movement were violently dealt with by the Italian security services and several activists were imprisoned or persecuted for participating in road blocs and other protests.
On June 18, Jean-François Coulomme, MP from La France Insoumise (LFI), stated that the “renovation of the existing Turin-Lyon line to enable modal freight forwarding on the rail is possible, necessary, and inexpensive. We ask for the abandonment of this €30 billion high-speed rail project that would be catastrophic for our ecosystems.”
The Turin Committee of Potere al Popolo also denounced the high-speed rail project as a “war on territories carried on with repression and militarization.”
