Press release, October 5th, 2018
Today, the Higher Administrative Court (OVG, Oberverwaltungsgericht) granted in the course of an emergency application of B.U.N.D. (Alliance for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany e.V.) to suspend the deforesting for the time being. A stage win, because the struggle for the forest is far from won. What does that mean for the forest? First and foremost, the forest is protected by the court, and saved from felling until the final decision of the OVG is made, whether or not the Hambach Forest falls under the Habitats Directive.
The resistance, which has now lasted for six years, made this subject very popular, and through the massive demonstrations that have been staged over the last few weeks, where thousands of people gather to tackle the deforestation of the Hambach Forest on the roads and into the woods. Another should now take place this Saturday, this was prohibited by the police because of security concerns. However, we do not allow ourselves to be deprived of the right to freedom of demonstration enshrined in the Basic Law and nevertheless call on all people on Saturday to come to the Hambach Forest to demonstrate. As the demo will take place on Saturday the 6.10.2018, the protest will continue.
An activist:
The excavators keep digging, RWE is building a fence around my home. The ruling class is afraid, limits the right to demonstrate, repudiates buses, yet we are here and we will not allow them to mess around with us, we will continue to fight against RWE and their world that is destroying our future.
Says the activist fleeX.
From Oct. 13th we call for decentralized actions in the Rhenish mining district, because the struggle against lignite is not over yet. Now it’s more than ever about the infrastructure of the energy giant.
Hambach Forest Occupation / Press Group
10/05/2018
It is so heartening to hear about the success this occupation has had in protecting Hambach forest! Especially so when the country I live in (England) has just sentenced peaceful protesters to 16 and 15 month prison sentences for their four day anti-fracking protest in Lancashire. As the conclusions of the IPCC’s global climate change report hits media headlines I hope the people continue to be galvanized into action to protect this very important forest and its biosystems. Keep fighting together!
This is great, a very important step. Next one will be to sue the rwe for environmental disaster and threatening of public health and oblige them to plant thousand of new plants!