BERLIN, Sept.13 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of police officers have begun clearing between 30 and 60 treehouses built by environmental activists in the contested Hambach forest area of North Rhine-Westphalia on Thursday.
Local government authorities ordered the inhabitants to leave their dwellings peacefully within 30 minutes before they would be removed forcibly. The police operation is one of the largest to be recorded to date in North Rhine-Westphalia and is supported by reinforcements from other German states as well as special forces commando.
The activists, known as "Operation Undergrowth", announced earlier that they would offer non-violent resistance against the clearance. A member of group told the German press agency (dpa) on Wednesday that some forest occupiers had by now lived in Hambach for six years. "For many, this is their home", the treehouse resident said.
The Hambach forest forms part of a property owned by German energy company RWE which comprises Europe's largest open pit brown coal mine. RWE plans to cut down 100 out of a remaining 200 hectares of forest shortly at a still unspecified date from October 2018 onwards in order for the site to be used for mining operations.
Aside from "Operation Undergrowth", several German environmental organizations have also urged the federal government in Berlin to impose a moratorium on the forest felling for coal power generation throughout the ongoing work of a special commission on Germany's planned phasing out of the technology. Prior to the commencement of mining activities in Hambach in 1978, the 12,000-year-old forest stretched across an area of 4,100 hectares.
Environmental activists have vehemently resisted the looming felling of the forest for years by moving into the threatened area, setting up makeshifts camps and erecting barriers. In late August, large numbers of police already advanced on the occupied forest to protect RWE workers removing obstacles and "obvious trash" on the one hand and collect evidence on the construction of illegal dwellings on the other.
As a consequence, the treehouse settlement has become well known as a symbol for resistance against coal power generation and deforestation across Europe. Police and local government authorities justified the ongoing clearance operation on Thursday with concerns over fire safety and the structural integrity of the buildings there.
Speaking on the public broadcaster "WDR" on Wednesday night, however, Armin Laschet (CDU), governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, described the treehouse settlement as an "illegally occupied area" and complained about repeated attacks on police by their inhabitants. Laschet hereby echoed a warning by his regional interior minister Herbert Reul (CDU) who recently criticized "Operation Undergrowth" as being comprised of "extremely violent left-wing extremists" who had travelled to Hambach forest from across Germany and Europe.
"These self-declared environmental activists do not want to save tress, but rather seek to abolish the state", Reul told press. The regional interior minister argued that Essen-based RWE had the right to fell the forest as its lawful proprietor.
