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With mobile platforms and tree houses high up in the trees: around a hundred activists have been protesting since Thursday against the planned expansion of Tesla's electric car factory in Grünheide in Brandenburg.
»Elster«, activist: »Tesla, which builds electric cars here in Gigafactory 4, would also like to buy this piece of forest that already borders the company and then have this forest cleared here too. And to prevent that, we are here and have occupied this forest.
Billionaire Elon Musk's company is planning to expand the plant, which could result in wastewater limits being exceeded.
Residents also fear that the plant's additional water consumption would exacerbate existing groundwater problems in the region.
Tesla has committed not to use additional water capacity and instead to recycle the 1.4 million cubic meters of water for which the company has a license.
But that is not enough for the occupiers.
Caro Weber, activist: »We want to prevent the expansion of the factory because of the danger to drinking water. But also because of the poor working conditions and the high levels of sickness and accidents that happen in the factory. The plant is still a construction site. And we think it is irresponsible to expand there.”
Environmental groups have been criticizing the construction of the factory since 2019. The activists now want to protest in the forest for as long as possible even in the event of an eviction by the police.