Gendarmes, activists clash in French motorway protest

Protesters clashed with law enforcement during a protest against a planned motorway in southwest France Saturday, which critics object to on environmental grounds.

Several hundred demonstrators, including around 50 who were masked and dressed in black, were involved in the confrontation, some throwing stones as gendarmes fired tear gas.

About a thousand activists had gathered at a chateau near the site of construction work on the A69 Toulouse-Castres motorway to show their opposition to the project.

The meeting went ahead despite having been banned by the local Tarn prefecture because of "serious violence" at previous protests. The manor house's owner had agreed to the gathering there, on condition it was peaceful.

Some protesters however used tree trunks, branches and wooden pallets to block the main road running alongside the A69 worksite, a route that had already been closed off to traffic.