Activists have lived in the trees for the past six years as part of a protest to protect the forest from coal mining. But now the authorities have said the treehouses violate building codes and are a fire hazard.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/O. Berg
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Authorities in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) have ordered the "illegal" treehouses in Hambach Forest to be taken down with immediate effect, citing safety concerns.
The activists were ordered to vacate the treehouses on Thursday morning, with police giving them 30 minutes time before moving in. Journalists were also blocked from entering the area where the structures are located after police cordoned it off.
Police and several vehicles were deployed to the scene, including an armored vehicle with a plow on the front and a water cannon.
The authorities subsequently removed the first group of protesters who were participating in a sit-in, according to the DPA news agency. The protesters did not resist, and were dragged away by the police. One activist was roughly thrown to the ground by police, according to video taken by a reporter for German public broadcaster WDR.
Police used cranes to try and reach activists who were sitting in raised platforms dubbed "tripods," reported DW's Helena Kaschel, who also noted that one treehouse village called "Oaktown" remained undisturbed by midday.
The state's Construction Ministry said the structures occupied by anti-coal activists are a fire hazard and do not conform to building regulations. They do not have emergency stairs and lack access routes for fire brigades and ambulances.
The 30 to 60 treehouses have come to symbolize the resistance to coal mining in the region. The activists living in them for the past six years are fighting to protect the forest from being razed as part of an expansion of an opencast mine to extract lignite, or brown coal, one of the dirtiest fossil fuels.
Authorities expect it will take days to fully clear out the forest. It remains to be seen whether several last-minute legal petitions filed in courts in Aachen and Cologne will be able to halt the evacuation operation.
Last stand against coal mine
The RWE energy company, which owns the forest, intends to clear some 100 hectares (247 acres) of land to expand the nearby Hambach mine, already Europe's biggest open pit coal mine. But its efforts have been frustrated by the activists occupying the forest.
RWE has been given permission to begin clearing the forest from the start of October. The energy company argued that it is "absolutely necessary in the short term" in order to secure coal production from the mine.
Dozens of protesters were expelled from the forest earlier this month after several hundred German police officers accompanied RWE workers tasked with clearing the forest. RWE staff also began removing forest logs and other obstacles, which were meant to keep police and workers from accessing certain areas.
Police clear Hambach Forest
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'Illegal' occupation
NRW Premier Armin Laschet described the treehouses as "illegally occupied areas," adding that police officers have been attacked from those structures for days.
Laschet said RWE had the right to clear the forest.
"The state government is there to ensure that the law that applies is enforced," he said during a talk show on WDR.
Activists pledge 'country-wide mass mobilization'
The international environmental group Greenpeace urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel to "deescalate and stop further removals," accusing the state government of acting on behalf of the RWE energy firm.
Several protester associations pledged to start a "country-wide mass mobilization" on Thursday in order to prevent the removal of the tree houses.
According to activist Jan Pütz, the protesters will take part in "mass civil disobedience" at the site during the weekend.
"With this type of action, we are taking our future in our own hands," he said.
6 years of coal protest coming to an end at Germany's Hambach forest?
Activists have uprooted their lives to save a German forest from being sacrificed to a gigantic coal mine. Now, German police are overseeing the clearing of the Hambach forest as the plans for mining go ahead.
Image: DW/G. Rueter
Primal forest
At the heart of Europe, in western Germany, near the border to France and Belgium, a scrap of ancient forest holds thousand-year-old trees along with abundant wildlife. But there's another species living there in the forest as well — our own.
Image: DW/G. Rueter
Life among the treetops
About 150 people currently live in what's left of Hambach forest, many in makeshift tree houses. Although living in a tree house may appear idyllic, many of the environmental activists have uprooted their lives for the better part of six years — living without electricity and running water — to protect the forest, and take a stance against the power of the fossil fuel industry.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Bildfunk/C. Gateau
Evictions begin
Several hundred police officers accompanied RWE workers for protection as they visited the forest on Wednesday, September 5, to expel the protesters in preparation for clearing. Although the operation was mostly peaceful, one activist was arrested after resisting police.
Image: DW/I. Banos-Ruiz
Nonviolent resistance
Activists joke about their "dangerous weapons," such as an empty fire extinguisher. Just days before the police action on September 5, Herbert Reul, the interior minister for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, warned that police and RWE staff in the Hambach forest were dealing with "extremely violent left-wing extremists." Members of the protest group have denied Reul's description.
Image: DW/G. Rueter
Not the first forest confrontation
Over the years, police have clashed with protesters in the Hambach forest. In 2017, police employed pepper spray to disperse protesters in advance of planned logging. The looming eviction is likely to result in the largest confrontation there yet.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M.Becker
Trees for coal
Here is the result of a recent RWE clearing campaign, which ran from October 2016 to March 2017. In the background, the smokestacks of the Niederaussem power station can be seen. With a CO2 output of more than 29 million tons yearly, this is Europe's third-dirtiest power plant. Due to massive toxic emissions such as mercury and sulfur, it is also considered Germany's second-most-toxic power plant.
Image: Elian Hadj-Hamdi
'Critical turning point' for climate policy
"Clumsy" has lived among the treetops in the Hambach forest since the resistance against the RWE coalmine project began in 2012. He believes the battle over the forest is a critical turning point for German climate policy, and the government's decision is one between "giving in to the lignite hardliners, [or] protecting our life support basis on this planet."
Image: DW/G. Rueter
Small forest with big stakes
Only about 10 percent of the once sprawling Hambach forest has survived the mine's onslaught. What's left appears miniscule in comparison to the vast expanse of the mine, which already covers about 85 square kilometers (33 square miles). But environmentalists say the forest holds enormous ecological value, and is home to abundant and biodiverse ecology, including endangered animal species.
Ever-hungry coal industry
The Hambach mine, located between Aachen and Cologne, is Germany's largest open-cast mine. Here, RWE uses enormous excavators to extract brown coal, also known as lignite, from the earth. Lignite is among the fossil fuels that emit the most carbon dioxide when burned. What remains of Hambach forest is the last bastion in a long battle against the expansion of the mine.
Image: Michael Goergens
Save the forest, save the world
Environmental activists have undertaken nonviolent resistance against the RWE coal mine expansion for more than six years. Through their actions, they claim to not only want to save the Hambach forest from destruction, but also send a message to the world about the dangerous consequences of prioritizing fossil fuel extraction over important ecological sites.
Image: DW/G. Rueter
Global support
Activists from all over the world have supported the action by staying for days or weeks at a time. Over the past six years, activists have literally built up an alternative community within the forest. Although it is still unclear what exactly will happen in the struggle between the protesters and the fossil fuel giant, potential eviction is an ever-present possibility for the forest dwellers.
