2024-05-11 17:33:41
More than a thousand environmental protesters demonstrated once more on Saturday once morest Tesla’s plan to expand its electric car factory established since 2022 in Grünheide, regarding thirty kilometers southeast of Berlin, according to the police.
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Accompanied by a large police force, the protesters, 2,000 according to the organizers, waved banners with various inscriptions such as “for a better life beyond capitalism”, with a drawing of a burning Tesla car, or “Grünheide says no thanks, Tesla. “
According to an AFP videographer at the scene, there were small fights between some activists and police officers at the very beginning of the demonstration, but following a few minutes the situation calmed down.
The protesters, who come from a collective of environmental groups including Extinction Rebellion, Nabu and Robin des Bois, began a long weekend of action on Wednesday, notably setting up a camp not far from the factory.
“People who live here are losing their livelihood because they no longer have drinking water, the quality of the water is getting worse,” said 49-year-old activist Katja Kühn, interviewed by AFP. “Overall, we also know that we don’t need more electric cars, but that we need to think regarding our mobility in a completely different way,” she added.
On Friday, several protesters tried to enter the Tesla site, but the police pushed them back. A police spokesperson reported injuries on both sides.
Since February, environmental activists have regularly protested once morest Tesla’s factory expansion project.
They demand security for “water supply” and “real climate protection”, and protest once morest Elon Musk’s “fake capitalist solutions”.
The American billionaire wants to expand the Grünheide factory by 170 hectares to double production, to reach one million electric cars per year.
This project caters to environmentalists and residents, who are concerned regarding the surrounding forest and water level, or even an increase in road traffic in the region.
A local referendum was opposed by 60%, but was intended to be advisory only.
This “Gigafactory”, Tesla’s only one in Europe, already occupies around 300 hectares, on which around 12,000 people work. This is where the “Model Y”, Tesla’s flagship SUV for the European market, comes from.
At the beginning of March, the fire on a power pylon started by a small group on the far left closed the factory for several days.
A week following this sabotage, the head of Tesla, Elon Musk, came to “support” factory workers and attack the perpetrators of the fire, whom he described as “eco-terrorists”.
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