Today, on the 18th of May, our forest occupation in the Lusatian lignite mining region is being evicted by the police. Here you can find the most current information:
3:45 pm
§315b section 3 is supposed to be the reason for their bail hearing, a paragraph dealing with dangerous interference with road traffic. This has allegedly happened in the context of Ende Gelaende. The minimum penalty is 6 months for a less severe case, and between 1 and 10 years for a more severe case.
Interesting: Exactly these people had been set free on the weekend…. This shows how randomly the state prosecutors changed their mind.
3:18 pm
Most likely, two more people are going to be shown to the magistrate tomorrow. The identities of both persons are known, both are non-german citizens.
3:00 pm
There is a new blog entry in which you can find all dates of solidarity demonstrations we know of. If you also organised something please let us know so that we can add it to the list!
1:45 pm
Several cities, such as Berlin and Göttingen, are organising solidarity demos tonight. If you are also organising something in your town send us the details and we’ll post it to the blog!
1:25 pm
21 activists have been taken to custody to the police station in Weisswasser after the occupation was evicted. As far as we know the eviction is concluded, but we’ll keep posting news here.
12:00 am
People who gave their personal details are also held at the police station in Weisswasser.
11:55 am
Everyone in custody is accused of: trespassing, property damage, environmental crimes (?!) Environmental crimes usually are things like air or water pollution – so, WHO is the environmental criminal here???
11:10 am
Parlamentarian observers are on their way to the occupation.
11:08 am
Come to the police station in Weißwasser to support the people who are detained there! Be aware, Nazis could be in the area…
10:20 am
There is no contact anymore to the occupation! We wish everyone in the trees and at the police station all the strength we have!
9:35 am
The occupation mobile phone is taken by the police. Press people, please come around!!!
9:20 am
They are not trying to reach the trees with an actual lifting platform, but with a ladder standing on a wheel loader. People aren’t told to which police station they are taken.
9:15 am
Police doesn’t react to questions reagrding the reason or cause for their demeanour.
9:10 am
Identity checks, a first person is taken into custody. The accusation: trespassing.
8:45 am
The occupation is being surrounded by the cops. Climbing cops aswell as a wheel loader with a shovel and a ladder attached to it are on site. Ropes and connections between the trees are cut.
Police and security: What you have to expect at the forest week
About the police
There have been several controls by the police during the last few days. They call it „Verdachtsunabhängige Kontrollen“ (random control without suspicion) caused by the polish-german border which is near the site.
During this control the police will ask a lot of questions so you should either talk about something you want to tell them or just say nothing about where you are heading and what you want to do there.
So, whats happening during the control?
– They will proof your identity. So, either you hand them your ID- Card or you have to tell them your name and your date and place of birth.
You can also deny your identity. It’s a good to talk about this beforehand as the police will take you (the denying person) to the policestation to try to proof your identity there. Therefore, they will try to take your fingerprints and a foto of you.
Important: You sign nothing. They can also hold you for 12 hours. You should call the organisation- phone so that we know what happened and can either plan to pick you up or call a lawyer. If you don’t tell your name to the police, we don’t need to know it neither. Also anonymous persons do have the legal right to a lawyer.
– They will search you. You’have to empty your pockets. Afterwards they will search you on their own and maybe you will have to put off your shoes so that they can be searched as well.
Also, they will search your cars, backpacks and jackets.
They especially look for „Dangerous Items“. As this, they also count Climbing Gear. If they find something, they will take it.
Important: You sign nothing. Not even the list of your confiscated stuff. The police has to give it to you still. If they don’t want to, discuss it til the end- this paper is the only thing you have to get back your stuff. Make sure that it lists as detailed as possible what they confiscated. If they don’t want to do that, offer to write it down on your own.
Pepperspray , if purchased freely, is legal to have, which doesn’t mean that the police won’t try to confiscate it nonetheless. Stay hard on this matter and make clear that you don’t want to use it against human animals.
Make sure that you don’t take a knife with you which you are not allowed to have.
Make sure, that you don’t carry any information with you which the police should not know about.
You may get a ban of the premisis.
This shall ban you of the Vattenfall- property for the next 24 hours.
Bans of the premisis don’t have legal consequences for you, but they allow for your detention from the property you’re officially banned from.
Still, the bans of premisis you get during the control are not even lawful; they are not written down and they would count for different counties which is also not lawful. But it has to be doubted wether the police cares and objections can be only made after the 24 hours.
About the security service
Vattenfall has a security service in the woods. They are driving around with landrovers and take pictures of activists. Before the Ende-Gelände- Actions, contact with them was astonishing peaceful (no similarities to Hambach Forrest), but we can not be sure what the situation now may look like.
So far, nothing happened.
There are also cameras in the trees and along the way, so face-covering is recommended.