More than thousand left-wing radicals protesting against the expansion of the Tesla plant have gathered in Grünheide near Berlin and are attempting to storm the plant of the US electric car maker, Bild reports.
Since Thursday, 1,200 activists from across Europe have travelled to the plant. They have set up tents and also hung flags of Palestine and the German movement RAF (“Red Army Faction”). Their demand is to stop the expansion of the factory. Hundreds of police, including mounted police with batons and water cannons, have been deployed to protect the factory.
Some protesters on Friday crossed the plant’s railway tracks and climbed over wild fences, leading to clashes with police. Protesters stormed the plant under a red flag and the slogan “Disrupt capitalism, create the future!”. A police spokesman described the situation as “dynamic.” One activist was injured. Three police officers were also injured.
Police officers were guarding railway tracks, power and water lines and a transformer station in the vicinity of the auto plant. The demonstrators managed to break through because the factory area is too large to cordon off all possible areas.
The chaotic demonstrators apparently split into two groups to confuse the police. They repeatedly broke into the 300-hectare site.
Officers from the Berlin and Brandenburg police as well as the federal police are preventing them from advancing any further. It is reported that the police have already arrested several demonstrators.
Around midday, a group of people managed to sneak into the Neuhardenberg airfield area. Hundreds of Tesla cars are parked there. According to the police, they are currently blocking the access road near the main gate and have also lit pyrotechnics. In addition, some of the Tesla opponents are said to have attached themselves to the cars.
The day began with a registered march by Tesla opponents at a protest camp in Grünheide. The demonstration was to march along the L23 motorway to the Tesla factory. According to police, at the Fangschleuse station, the entire procession suddenly broke up. Hundreds of participants ran right and left from the road into the woods, trying to get through the fences into the factory grounds.
The car factory in the village of Grünheide is Tesla’s only plant in Europe. It has a production capacity of about 250,000 cars a year, with plans to increase to 1 million.
