Police break up Bialowieza forest sit-in in Warsaw
November 10, 2017
Polish police have detained several eco-activists staging a sit-in at Poland's forest management agency, some of whom chained themselves to a gate. They were protesting logging in the UNESCO-protected Bialowieza forest.
Image: picture-alliance/PAP/L. Szymanski
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Bialowieza forest: Polish treasure gets chopped down
The forest is a World Heritage Site, home to European bison and woodpeckers. Some trees are several centuries old. Still, the Polish government continues to log there
Image: picture-alliance/NurPhoto/M. Luczniewski
Pest control - or profit?
In March 2016, the Polish government decided to triple the amount of logging allowed in the Bialowieza forest. Since then, at least 10,000 trees have been felled. The government says the reason for the deforestation was to fight an infestation of bark beetles. But scientists say the insects only affect conifers. Critics say pest control is just a cover for those who stand to benefit economically.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/W. Radwanski
The alleged 'baddie'
The bark beetle loves to eat spruce, which is known as the queen of the conifers. But scientists say we shouldn't fell spruce trees, even if they're infected with beetles. They provide a habitat for worms, insects and fungi, and the dead tree trunks are used as nesting sites by woodpeckers.
Image: Imago/S. Schellhorn
A large scale operation
The Bialowieza forest spans Poland and Belarus. 35 percent of the forest on the Polish side of the border is made up of protected national parks and nature reserves. The government says logging only happens in cultivated areas, rather than natural old-growth forest. But activists say the clearance is far more extensive.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/O.Marques
Last of its kind
The European bison is the last surviving species of wild cattle on the continent - and the Bialowieza forest is home to Europe’s largest free-roaming herd. As early as 1795, the Russian Tsar put the area under strict protection. Poachers were even sentenced to death by poisoning.
Image: imago
Colorful inhabitant
The Syrian woodpecker is one of 1,200 animal species living in the forest. Originally from the Middle East, it arrived in Europe around a century ago with a taste for cherries and nuts.
For hundreds of years, the 150,000-hectare forest was left in peace. And it should stay that way, environmentalists say. The Polish government has closed off the logging area in an attempt to avoid disturbances from activists. And police and forest management security personnel supervise any protests to make sure activists don't chain themselves to the machinery.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/K. Maj
A warning from the EU
The clearing of Bialowieza forest has also become an issue outside of Poland. Recently, activists in Berlin protested against it. Now even the EU is getting involved, warning that logging activity may be added to the ongoing EU treaty violation proceedings against Poland if the country doesn't stick to the commission's deforestation ban.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Zinken
Trees are friends
This young man's method of protesting won't get him into trouble. But seven other activists have arrested after interfering with wood harvesters. They face penalties and imprisonment due to a "breach of the peace".
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Skarzynski
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A police spokeswoman said on Thursday that police had detained 22 people "for disturbing the peace" at the headquarters of Poland's forest management agency, with police at times using force to remove the up to 50 protestors.
#SaveBialowieza forest in Poland
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"We're calling for the withdrawal of heavy machinery from the Bialowieza forest. We demand an end to the logging," said Adam Bohdan, one of the activists who chained himself to a security gate inside the agency building.
"All of our activity — peaceful marches, petitions, blockades at the scene — have had no effect. Forest management continues to fell trees despite the decision of the European judiciary. And so we opted for this ultimate form of protest," he told the French news agency AFP.
Many believe the move to open up logging in the Bialowieza forest is a show of strength by the nationalistic Law and Justice (PiS) government, intent on showing the EU, which has accused the government of undermining democracy in the last two years, that it has the power to do what it wishes with its own land.
Forest management spokeswoman Anna Malinowska described the protest organized by the "Oboz dla Puszczy" (Camp for the Forest) environmental coalition as "illegal."
The activists could face penalties ranging from fines to up to a year behind bars.
Some of the activists chained themselves to a security gate in the agency's building, saying that their previous efforts 'had no effect'Image: picture-alliance/PAP/R. Guz
Critics want end to logging
Scientists, ecologists and the EU have protested the action. Activists have said Warsaw is defying a European Court of Justice injunction to suspend logging in the forest.
The government has been accused by the European Commission of logging trees that are 100 years and older, an act which is illegal under EU law.
Forest patrols by Greenpeace Poland in August found evidence of loggers violating the EU Court's decision in 16 of 30 forest areas.
Bialowieza includes one of the largest surviving parts of a primeval forest that covered most of the European plain about 10,000 years ago. The woodland, which straddles Poland's border with Belarus, is home to unique plant and animal life, including 800 European bison, the continent's largest mammal.
Beetles and protests in Bialowieza Forest
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Government defends actions
The government began logging in May last year, saying it was clearing dead trees to contain damage caused by a spruce bark beetle infestation. It also justified its move saying it was combatting the risk of forest fires.
This saw the limit raised from 63,000 cubic meters (26.7 million board feet) to 188,00 cubic meters, with about 80,000 cubic meters estimated to have been cleared since the limit was increased.
In September, the European Commission asked the ECJ to fine Poland for violating a ban on logging in the forest.
In recent weeks, the Polish government has accused the Commission of "spreading lies" and "manipulating the facts."
The Polish Environment Ministry said it was not in violation of an EU order as it is only felling trees for public safety reasons.
Environment Minister Jan Szyszko told a parliamentary hearing in September that logging was only to save the forest from a major beetle outbreak and that it respected EU laws.
He said logging was taking place only in regular parts of the forest, not in the protected national park.
