Press Release September 6, 2018
German coal company RWE attacks tree houses in Hambach forest +++ Ende Gelände calls for civil disobedience to save the forest and the climate +++ press conference today at 3 pm in Buir (near Cologne)
Kerpen-Buir, 06-08-2018. Today at 10 am, police started attacking tree houses in the Hambach forest. On behalf of German energy company RWE, they are trying to evict activists’ tree houses and cut down the forest to make way for the expansion of an open-cast lignite mine. Ende Gelände and other climate activists are now more determined than ever to stand up for climate justice.
“RWE is crossing a red line. The company is putting at risk the unique ecosystem of this forest, and the lives of people around the world. We will prevent RWE from evicting the tree houses and from clearing the forest, together with many people and as part of the global climate justice movement. We as Ende Gelände will protect the forest with our bodies against RWE’s chainsaws. It is absurd and irresponsible to destroy a forest in order to burn more coal and thereby heat up the climate crisis even more,” says Ende Gelände spokesperson Karolina Drzewo.
Hambach forest is an ancient forest located in North-Rine Westphalia. Coal company RWE has threatened to resume logging the remaining 10% of the forest to further expand its open-pit mines. At the same time, a coal commission is currently negotiating Germany’s coal phase-out in Berlin. It is a matter of global climate justice that the coal under the forest stays in the ground.
Today at 3 pm, Ende Gelände, the local initiative Buirers for Buir, activists from the forest occupation and the action group Aktion Unterholz invite you to a press conference in Buir (near Cologne). It takes place in the community hall of the Protestant church,Bahnstraße 42 in 50170 Kerpen-Buir.
If government and police do not stop their destructive operation in the forest immediately, Aktion Unterholz (action underwood) will start tomorrow (Friday, September 7th) with spontaneous blockades and massive protests in and around Hambach forest. Activists from Germany and all around Europe are expected to join the protests. Ende Gelände supports the call to participate in Aktion Unterholz.
This autumn, Ende Gelände will block RWE’s lignite infrastructure around Hambach forest to save the forest and start Germany’s coal exit as a contribution to globale climate justice. On October 6th and 7th 2018, activists will put their bodies on the line in an action of civil disobedience to protect the forest. From 25 to 29 October 2018, Ende Gelände together with a broad alliance of European activists will come together for a mass blockade of the lignite mine Hambach, calling for an immediate coal exit and for global climate justice.
Contact:
Karolina Drzewo, Spokesperson Ende Gelände: +49 152 04560800