Evictions going on, Day X was proclaimed

Today, the state police of NRW continued the destructive preparation(destroying of soil structures and barricades) of the forest for the upcoming evictions. The police stormed the forest at 8 am in order to cut walking ropes and bridges between trees and to isolate tree houses this way.

In the subsequent attempt to destroy the stilt construction “Simona”, a hazel tree was felled by RWE workers in the middle of “Oaktown”.

In reaction to the felling of the first tree, the Action Alliance proclaimed “Day X”, the crossing of the so-called “red line”.

Shortly after the proclamation of Day X, which was spread all over Germany and even the world, police left the forest. Although the soil structures all were destroyed, the activists now had the opportunity to move freely again and rebuild structures.

The proclamation of Day X marked the beginning of a new phase in the struggle for the 12,000 year old Hambach Forest. Hundreds of activists will join this struggle tomorrow, not least through the support of “Aktion Unterholz”, which promised to launch a weekend of resistance to support the Hambach Forest in the form of mass actions of civil disobedience. They will break police lines and block RWE and police equipment.

Despite the high likelihood that the police will be present again tomorrow, there is a chance they will restrain themselves. In this case Aktion Unterholz will support the fight in other forms, by helping to rebuild barricades and soil structures.

At 3:00 pm, the various participating organizations of the Action Alliance held a press conference to communicate the situation to regional, national, as well as international media.

They criticize the violent action of the police forces, as well as the protection of the interests of the coal and capital giant RWE. They condemn the Interior Minister of NRW, Herbert Reul (CDU) for ordering these actions.

Furthermore Ende Gelände presented their new action plan for late October, which includes lock-ons this year, reflecting their response to the increasingly extreme situation in the struggle for the Hambach Forest.

While the 6 activists who were arrested on September 5 are back in freedom, the first trial day for the case “Kim Neuland” started in the Düren district court. The case concerns the arrest and 17-day detention of activist Maya (known as “Kim Neuland”) on 17 December 2016, in connection with the resistance against the cutting of the Hambach Forest. The trial will continue on September 14th.

The repression against the climate-justice activists is going on, who are fighting for the preservation of the forest, and against the capitalist extraction of dirty lignite. But as long as the felling of the forest is not stopped forever and the fossil-fueled capitalist exploitation of the planet continues, the resistance will continues as well!