Defense company
Demonstrations before the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Rheinmetall factory
A sign leads to the Rheinmetall company site in Unterlüß: Artillery ammunition will be produced in the new “Lower Saxony Plant”. photo
© Philipp Schulze/dpa
The Federal Chancellor is expected in Unterlüß during the day. That doesn’t stop numerous people from protesting against “armament and war policy” and blocking streets.
Demonstrators gathered in front of the planned ammunition factory on Monday morning Armaments company Rheinmetall gathered in Lower Saxony. Numerous people tried to block access roads in Unterlüß, and farmers with tractors were on the move, said a police spokesman. He initially did not want to give numbers about participants in the demonstrations. The protests are peaceful: “We’re getting through well.”
The Südheide peace campaign also wanted to demonstrate peacefully with a vigil with around ten people – against “armament and war policy,” as a spokesman said: “We expect the government to have a de-escalating effect.”
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (both SPD) are expected in the Lüneburg Heath for the official groundbreaking ceremony for the new ammunition factory in Unterlüß. The new “Lower Saxony Plant” will, among other things, produce artillery ammunition. Unterlüß is the arms company’s largest production site; in addition to ammunition, military vehicles such as the Puma infantry fighting vehicle are also manufactured there.