Police Clear Environmental Protest Camp in Berlin’s Wuhlheide Park.

By Axel Lier, Christian Barth, Dirk Böttger and Büsra Fidan

When the evacuation announcements were made, the tree squatters yelled several times: “Wuhli stays” and people who were in the closed Rudolf-Rühl-Allee yelled: “You are not alone”.

The protest camp of environmentalists with tree houses has been cleared by the police in Berlin’s Wuhlheide Park in Köpenick. Several people were taken out of the five mostly small tree houses by police officers with climbing equipment on Wednesday, the police said. About 40 people left the protest camp, which also included around 20 tents on the ground, according to the police, voluntarily.

The police dismantled the tree houses. Forest management employees cleared away the remains of the camp on the ground.

That’s how the day went

After several announcements and warnings, the police reported at 8:11 a.m.: “Response forces are now beginning to dismantle the tripods, tree houses and tents set up in the protest camp.” The announcements with the request to leave the camp in Wuhlheide are repeated constantly.

Around 100 people were on site. “More than 40 people left the protest camp voluntarily. People who are currently still in the camp were given places and OWi reports are being made for violating the VersFG,” the police said on Twitter.

The officials remove obstacles in the forest that the radicals have set up. Specially trained climbing experts from the Technical Task Force prepare their assignment.

Photos of the squatters show riot police with their helmets on standing between the trees. They have ladders and chainsaws with them. More than 400 officers are said to be on duty.

Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) said in the morning: “What we see there differs to a large extent from the peaceful character of a meeting. The protest camp, with its barricades and levies, which are almost reminiscent of pitfalls, and the resulting dangers, is geared towards long-term resistance.” And: “The people who can also be assigned to the radical spectrum wear masks as far as possible. From my perspective, the disbandment by the Berlin police is an important step, because freedom of assembly is not a cover for radical protest.”

The construction of the protest camp violates the rights of third parties and entails further dangers, according to the police on Twitter to justify the eviction. There was no coordination between the protesters and the assembly authority in the run-up to the action, as is usually the case.

In an “info ticker” the forest squatters report that the police are making announcements and the meeting has been dissolved. The people had been given places. No further meetings should take place in the area until September 30th. “We are looking for a person to register a meeting!” write the squatters.

In the meantime, an urgent application against the eviction has been made to a judge. “The police don’t wait for urgent requests. Commander-in-Chief unwilling to negotiate compliance. Immediate enforcement is in place,” it said at 8:53 a.m.

Politicians criticize the eviction of the police

Politicians criticized the police and the eviction. The domestic political spokesman for the left Ferat Cocak criticized that the evacuation of Wuhlheide was “not legal because the right of assembly is being violated by the police”.

The head of the Berlin Greens demanded that the Senate should make the occupiers an offer to talk to them. “To date, there has been no offer from the Senate on this,” Philmon Ghirmai said on Twitter. The leader of the Greens in the Berlin House of Representatives, Werner Graf, criticized the eviction on Twitter as “completely pointless and disproportionate”.

Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) has assured the police of his “full support” in view of the clearing of the camp.

“Police have carefully weighed and made this decision. In Berlin there are laws and rules that everyone must adhere to. This coalition will continue to enforce the law.”

The tree squatters, who describe themselves as queer-feminist activists, say they want to use the action in Köpenick to prevent around 15 hectares of forest from being cleared for the construction of the planned “Tangentiale Verbindungs ​​Ost” road. Already on Monday they had written on Twitter: “We assume that the eviction of the occupation will take place in the next few days.” They called on supporters to resist.