Kurt Claßen Meadow situation: #ClimateJustice vs Fascist Era Expriopriation Laws

Comment by an activist

The meadow camp, which has served as a protest and resistance camp and important meeting place for activists since the beginning of the forest occupation, is now to be cleared. Kurt Claßen, owner of the property at the edge of the forest and comrade-in-arms in the fight to preserve the Hambach Forest, filed with the help of his lawyer an appeal against the eviction order by the Arnsberg district government of the compulsory expropriation, planned by RWE, which will delay the trial for the time being. In a statement by Kurt Classen on the illegality of the order of the building authority, represented by the state government, he writes that the threatened eviction order would serve to deprive the activists of the infrastructure for meetings. This violates the fundamental right to freedom of assembly

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Bat rescue action


Oct 11th, 2018

Bat rescue action
The Hambach Forest is a biodiverse area containing many rare animal and plant species, including the dormouse and the Bechstein’s bat. This unique biotope is being destroyed by the coal mining activities of the company RWE in North Rhine Westphalia. Environmental activists of BUND and NABU and many independent nature preservationists are fighting to protect the forest and its species.

On the 6 October, 50,000 people joined a protest in the Hambach Forest. One of the main reasons for the outrage was that RWE, in addition to forcibly relocating the bats, is intentional destroying their nesting places with stapled plastic pieces and tape. This means that the bats are disturbed during their nesting season, which typically takes place every autumn, and are driven out of the area or even locked up.

Activists in the forest created a courageous bat rescue team, which took every step possible to protect the Bechstein’s bats from starvation and death.

See also our page Endangered animals with more info on the Bechstein’s bat

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Manheim squat & garden party!

We squatted in Manheim!

Read also Greetings from the Friedensstrasse in Manheim
Two weeks ago humans were chased from their homes in Hambach Forest. Whilst the main public focus was on the protests in the forest, already for years people have been forced out of the surrounding villages. And so also in Manheim.
Rather than only concerning local inhabitants, coal mining in the Rhineland is also a global problem.

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