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Nature and Environment

German police clear forest protesters for autobahn extension

November 10, 2020

Police began sweeping the Dannenröder Forst in Hesse of barricades and treehouses on Tuesday. Environmental activists have been encamped in the woods for more than a year, protesting the extension of the A49 autobahn.

https://p.dw.com/p/3l6vB
Police use climbing equipment to remove a protester from his spot in the trees in the Dannenröder Forst, 10.11.2020.
Image: Boris Roessler/dpa/picture alliance

On Tuesday, police began removing barricades put in place by environmental activists in the western German state of Hesse to stop the destruction of the Dannenröder Forst, which is to be cut down to make way for an extension to the A49 freeway.

An even larger police contingent was deployed to disband the activists' forest camp, which they have occupied for more than a year.

A police officer speaks with a protester in a makeshift treehouse, as part of the operation. November 10, 2020.
Police were planning to empty and then the remove the various barricades erected on the ground and in the trees themselvesImage: Andreas Arnold/dpa/picture alliance

Regional police authority Mittelhesse Polizei sent out a number of tweets throughout the day documenting the operation. These showed large numbers of police in the woods as well as barricades rigged with propane tanks and barbed wire, warning signs and tree houses. Police claim officers were attacked with rocks and pyrotechnics as they reconnoitered the area in the morning.

Later in the day, police used truncheons to prevent activists from climbing into trees, with one person being injured.

Read more:  Hambach Forest: Police again tackle anti-coal activists' eight-year blockade

Make way for the freeway

Hundreds of police from across Germany are taking part in the operation with authorities intent on clearing the camp to make way for construction on the A49 freeway — a controversial stretch of Autobahn that will directly connect the north and middle Hesse cities of Kassel and Giessen.

The project requires the clear-cutting of roughly 85 hectares (210 acres) of woods. Planners from the project management firm Deges say they have already cleared about 53. 

A police officer stands by police tape in the Dannenröder Forst. 10.11.20.
Police are clearing the area and cordoning it off to allow developers accessImage: Andreas Arnold/dpa/picture alliance

Contractors are now scheduled to begin clearing at the 27-hectare Dannenröder Forst site, which has become a symbol of the activists' last stand under the motto "Danni Bleibt!" (Danni Stays). Activists say they are being forced to put their bodies on the line to defend the forest because political leaders have failed to. "We said we would defend this forest over a year ago and we've been doing that since," said one activist.  

Read more:  Opinion: Hambach Forest — just because it's legal doesn't make it right

No information has been made public indicating when clear-cutting will begin, but local authorities say road construction will start in September 2021.

German activist Carolina Rackete at the protests at Dannenröder Forst, 10.11.2020.
German activist Caroline Rackete, best known for captaining migrant rescue ships in the Mediterranean, was at the protestImage: Boris Roessler/dpa/picture alliance

js/msh (dpa, AFP, epd)