Press Statement: Big Police Operation at Dannenrod Forest starts today

+++ BREAKING: Big Police Operation at Dannenrod Forest starts today +++

Dannenrod, November 10, 2020. The conflict concerning the construction of the German highway A49 and the cutting of trees in the forest is reaching a new level of escalation. After the cutting of trees had been finished in Herrenwald Forest and Maubacher Forest recently, the police began today at 07:30am its operation in Dannenrod Forest (“Dannenröder Wald”) in order to prepare the cutting of the forest for constructing the highway A49. At first, cops surrounded the treehouse village “Drüben” nearby the street B62; also, cops were placed at the forest entrance in Dannenrod. Activists have already been living in Dannenrod Forest since October 2019, in order to avoid the cutting of the forest in the context of the A49 highway construction. The forest is a 300 year old, healthy mixed forest inside a drinking water reserve. The activists say that their protest will be stronger than ever.

“We will defend this forest; we said that one year ago and did so. Today’s attack on Dannenrod Forest shows once again that politics is failing fundamentally concerning  the climate question. Therefore we find ourselves forced to defend this forest with our bodies against this colossal destruction and against the outdated plans to construct the A49 highway.”, Nia from the forest occupation says. “We will not give up our fight for a clime just world, for our ecosystems here in the forest and for a radical change of our mobility system. We call upon everyone to join us and to defend this forest together. We can promise one thing: This eviction will be a very hard nut to crack!”

After yesterday’s press conference by the police it is expected that the cutting of trees and eviction will be much harder compared to the police operations in Maulbacher Wald and Herrenwald before. The police is talking about around 400 barricades on the forest routes. These are partly inhabited by activists. In addition, several constructions such as “tripods” are to be found in the forest. These are constructions with three wooden legs on which activists are standing in order to make the eviction harder for the police. The eviction of these structures by special police forces is complicated, because mistakes can be a danger of life for the people involved. Foremost, however, within one year, more than 100 platforms and treehouses have been built by the activists.

“We are incredibly angry!” The construction of the A49 highway is violence against human beings who already have to flee from their homes and who already lose their basis of life. Also, the cutting of trees that the forest workers, protected by the police, did so far, is deadly violence against these beautiful trees and all beings that have found their homes there.”, an activist from the treehouse village (“barrio”) Drüben says. In Drüben, the police operation starts today. “These forms of violence that we had to see in Herrenwald and Maulbacher Wald, are also planned in the Dannenrod Forest (“Danni”) right now. However, here in “Danni”, this eviction is much more personal because we live here and we developed a personal connection to this forest and its trees. Violence is normal in the faschist-patriarchical capitalism. For the state’s and economic institutions, who are in power here, consequent environmental protection and real sustainability is unthinkable: The obsession for economic growth, return of investment and power will always come before the needs of human beings and other beings. Therefore, we will defend Danni without any compromises!”