Sat Dec 21 09:01:47 UTC 2024: ## German Police Evict Hundreds from Tesla Protest Camp in Grunheide Forest

**Berlin, Germany** – Hundreds of environmental activists occupying the Grunheide Forest near Berlin have been forcibly evicted by German police in a dawn raid on November 18th. The protesters, part of the Stop Tesla movement, had occupied the forest since February to oppose the expansion of Tesla’s Gigafactory, citing concerns about water depletion and environmental damage in a drought-stricken region.

The eviction, conducted under a wartime ordinance ostensibly to search for unexploded ordnance, saw police remove activists from over 20 treehouses. Spokesperson Karolina Drzewo of the “Turn off Tesla’s Tap” group denounced the action as the suppression of assembly rights, claiming the ordinance was a pretext to clear the way for Tesla’s expansion plans. Eighteen arrests were made within three days of the operation.

Tesla’s Gigafactory, already spanning 300 hectares, produces nearly 200,000 electric vehicles annually. The planned expansion, currently on hold due to “low demand,” according to Tesla, aims to increase production to 1 million vehicles per year. This expansion is fiercely opposed by local residents and activists who point to Tesla’s already significant water usage (1.8 million cubic meters annually) in a region suffering from drought. A February referendum showed 65% of Grunheide residents opposed the expansion.

Protesters voiced concerns extending beyond environmental damage, highlighting the social and economic inequalities inherent in the global electric vehicle industry, including the exploitation of resources and workers in the Global South for the production of lithium and cobalt used in Tesla batteries. They presented the occupation as a broader fight against green capitalism, extractivism, and the unchecked power of billionaires like Elon Musk.

The occupation had become a hub for activism, hosting hundreds of participants over nine months. The eviction, however, has not ended the resistance. A symbolic forest walk organized days later, featuring MEP Carola Rackete, underscored the protesters’ determination to continue their fight against what they see as climate injustice and unchecked industrial expansion, connecting local concerns to a global struggle against corporate power. The Grunheide Forest now stands as a potent symbol of this conflict.

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