Tributes in scattered order. a “Memorial journey” official inaugurated, but irreconcilable positions between associations of victims: Toulouse commemorated, Tuesday, September 21, the deadly explosion of the AZF factory, which occurred twenty years ago to the day – the biggest French industrial disaster since 1945.
Under a gray sky, the emotion was palpable at 10:17 a.m. when the sirens sounded on the site of the completely destroyed former chemical plant.
In front of a hundred people, elected officials, representatives of the State, firefighters or members of associations of victims, the names of the 31 dead victims were given. Wreaths of flowers were then placed at the foot of the memorial and a minute of silence was observed, without speech.
“Thoughts of the victims and their families. France remembers “, reacted on Twitter President Emmanuel Macron. Prime Minister Jean Castex also tweeted : “The nation respectfully bows in memory of the victims. ” But no member of the government made the trip to Toulouse.
“No scar is closed today”
The trembling voice, France, 71, struggles to contain her tears. Her father died a few months after the explosion, from his injuries. “He had his fingers torn off, his knees crushed … No, no scar is closed today”, she explains.
A little further, Roland Le Goff, a former employee of AZF, lingers on the memorial route, inaugurated by the mayor Les Républicains de Toulouse, Jean-Luc Moudenc: nine panels retracing the history of the factory, the disaster, then the aftermath with the many trials in particular. ” Proud “ that his old factory is “In the spotlight”, the 70-year-old man is however bitter about the part of the course which recalls the final court decision: “It hurts to see it written in black and white. We know that it is not the truth, and that the truth, we will probably never have it. “
Because twenty years later and despite the final conviction of the former director of the site and the company, the Memory and Solidarity association of former AZF employees rejects the thesis of justice according to which the unfortunate mixture of products chemical, due to “Negligence” or to “Breach of the duty of care”, caused the explosion.
This memorial journey “Does not and cannot achieve unanimity”, acknowledges Mr. Moudenc to Agence France-Presse, claiming to have invited all associations to participate in its development, in conjunction with a scientific committee. “The drama was of such intensity that the pain is there and the memory has difficulty in appeasing itself”, he added, stressing that “The most important today [était] to have a written record ” of this painful chapter of the Pink City.
The official ceremony boycotted
A little earlier, around 9:30 a.m., another commemoration bringing together a hundred people was held 2 kilometers away, at the roundabout known as September 21. The Association of disaster victims of September 21, 2001 and the association Never again that, which boycotted the official ceremony, were present. “Total guilty, complicit state”chanted the demonstrators.
Yves Gilbert, from the association Never again, denounced “The baseness of Total, which did not recognize its shortcomings and was fined only ten minutes of its annual profit”. For Stéphane Dufau, from the Association des sinistrés du 21 September 2001 and who was seriously injured, “No question either of participating in the official commemoration alongside the people of Total who do not want to acknowledge their responsibility”.
On September 21, 2001, more than 300 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in a hangar at the AZF chemical complex, 5 kilometers from the city center, exploded. A seismic wave of 3.4 on the Richter scale will be recorded, relayed by a sound wave up to 80 kilometers around the city. In addition to the 31 dead, the disaster left thousands injured.
The legal battle, which lasted eighteen years, resulted in the conviction in 2017 of the former director of the site Serge Biechlin to fifteen months suspended imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros. The company that owns the factory and subsidiary of Total, Grande Paroisse, was ordered to pay a fine of 225,000 euros.
Both are found guilty of “Characterized faults” committed by ” clumsiness “, “Negligence” or “Breach of the obligations of prudence”. Their cassation appeals were dismissed on December 17, 2019.
www.lemonde.fr