Police remove Tesla protesters from forest camp – DW – 19/11/2024

On Monday, police in Grünheide, Germany, began clearing environmental activists from a forest encampment near Tesla’s new gigafactory near Berlin.

Protesters oppose further expansion of the electric car maker’s factory, pointing out that it would involve deforestation, as well as expressing serious concerns about the amount of water the plant will need to produce batteries and what it will mean for local drinking water supplies.

Authorities told activists at a protest camp in the forest surrounding the plant that they would be allowed to return as soon as the site was searched for unexploded World War II bombs and deemed safe.

The camp was built in February and partially overlaps with the area already approved for construction.

A Potsdam police spokesman reiterated that the operation was not aimed at clearing the protesters’ camp but only to ensure there were no bombs there.

Earlier this year, two unexploded bombs from World War II were found

This summer, two such explosives were found at the site and secured in controlled detonations.

On Monday, police said they would remove protesters who refused to leave the protest site on their own last week, even though they were offered a temporary alternative protest site. According to police, this meant that authorities were forced to climb into the tree houses.

Police officials did not say whether the protest camp would be disbanded after searching the area.

Protest participants claim that under normal circumstances, old bombs do not pose a threat and will only pose a threat during future construction, accusing the authorities of dishonesty in their intentions.

Moreover, protesters accuse the authorities of not intending to respect the wishes of local residents who voted against further expansion.

Tesla, owned by the world’s richest man Elon Musk, has said it plans to double production at the plant to be able to produce one million cars a year.

On October 15, the Ministry of the Environment of Brandenburg approved the partial expansion of the facility.

js/jsi (AFP, dpa)