A supporters account of barricade evictions

Arrived at 8.00 in the forest. When I wanted to go to tripod (Jesuspoint) towards Gaul, 3 policemen (presumably SWAT Hambach) arrived. They made derogatory and offensive remarks to the activists. When I arrived in Gaul, I met several local citizens and supporters. In Gaul, there were about 14 police officers from the evidence preservation units, they took pictures and videos(those are later used to prepare treehouse evictions and other large scale actions).
When they were done they went back to Secustraße. We followed them. At the tripod on Secustraße the situation was very relaxed. With Hambis wishing each other luck and strenght. The police together with the fire brigade tried to recover the person hanging over the tripod. After a while, the members of the SPD ruling party arrived, accompanied by at least a dozen additional police officers. The delegates were led through the forest and the occupations by RWE employees and police executives, including police chief Weinspach. In Oaktown, a Member of Parliament was being confrontational with the forest defenders and supporters.
At the urging of the police, they went on to Gaul. “Civilians” were not allowed to go in the delegation and were kept at a distance of 20 meters. The last point of the tour was the tripod at Jesuspoint, where the deputies took a group photo in front of a barricade and then went to the demolition edge. On the way, police chief talked intensely with a citizen and justified his view of the mission. The deputies have finally been evacuated with a RWE truck. When the deputies were gone, many policemen moved from the demolition point to Jesuspoint, followed by equipment and workers to remove the barricades. First, the monopod was cleared in front of the tripod and then demolished. The forest path was protected by a massive police force, all of which were sheltered. The situation remained as peaceful as before. There was a little cat and mouse game between the officers and the squatters inside but that’s nothing new. More new supporters were present as well. After a while, a helicopter and additional police units appeared and the situation tensed up, the police seemed more nervous. Then a group of people again came under massive police protection and looked at the occupied Barricades.

Later it turned out that they were right-wing AfD representatives. Meanwhile, the forest workers of RWE had begun to cut a lot, and several young trees and bushes were sawn off. Then they drove with a large excavator through the forest, which destroyed all vegetation.

Later, the police reasoned that for an activist’s life had existed danger, eyewitnesses have assured me that the person smiled and was not in danger. Between 1:00 and 2:00 I went in direction of the Buir railway station. On my way I was passed by 6 more police vans and 4 horse transporters driving in direction of the Forest.


If you were also in the forest and would like to share your account please mail them to us to:

hambacherforst at riseup.net

Outside presence, support and documentation has had an effect on deescalating the level of police and secu brutality which has resulted in a long list of injuries over the last 7 years of the forest occupation.

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