It’s winter, and anti-Tesla environmentalists are falling from trees

The German police have completely dismantled the camp of opponents to the expansion of the Tesla factory in Berlin.

After dismantling the base camp of opponents to the Tesla factory expansion project in Grünheide on the outskirts of Berlin, the treehouses installed in the trees were also destroyed this Thursday. The last of the 20 treehouses was to be safely taken down this morning after the protesters were evacuated. Debris and barricades will be cleared in the coming days.

The protest camp has gradually grown since February. The police have never been able, or willing, to access it until the beginning of this week. To force the intervention, the municipality of Grünheide found a legal workaround by requesting that the area be searched for explosives. To avoid escalating the situation, the police initially assured that there would be no forced eviction, only a temporary removal of the site to conduct the searches near the Tesla Gigafactory.

On Tuesday, the authorities finally decided to clear the area, citing violations of the law committed by the camp occupants. At the same time, the Grünheide municipality issued a general decree banning access to the site for an indefinite period. Disperse, there’s nothing to see here anymore! According to officials, only 18 people were present on site and were temporarily detained without any charges during the eviction process. The police stated that the environmental activists came from Berlin and its surroundings, as well as from Austria and… France.

The organization “Tesla den Hahn abdrehen“, which can be translated as “Turn off the Tesla tap,” naturally criticized the explosive search argument but had to backtrack when it turned out that there were indeed explosives on site! They called for a peaceful walk in the forest at the site of the former camp this Saturday. A perfect opportunity to build treehouses, don’t you think?

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