The battle of Hambacher Forest

Activists have occupied Hambacher Forest for six years to prevent the area being destroyed and mined for coal. State violence, police brutality and corporate power are combining to try and oust them for good, writes Andrea Brock

In one of the largest policing operations in the history of the German state, police forces are currently evicting hundreds of forest protectors from the Hambacher Forest occupation in the German Rhineland. With water cannons, tanks, thousands of police officers and brute force, the government is clearing the ancient forest, determined to facilitate the continuation of logging operations – scheduled to start mid-October – for the mining of lignite coal.

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