Cologne administrative court: evacuation of the Hambach forest was illegal


Status: 08.09.2021 5:25 p.m.

That was decided by the Cologne administrative court. The reason given by the state government that the dwellings had fire protection deficiencies was only advanced, it is said.

The evacuation of the Hambach Forest three years ago was illegal. That was decided by the Cologne administrative court and the action brought by a resident at the time was upheld. The clearing of the tree houses made headlines at the time.

Fire protection deficiencies in tree houses are not a valid reason

The court clearly stated that the reason for the eviction was merely a pretext from the Düsseldorf building ministry. The ministry had requested the city of Kerpen to vacate the houses immediately because of alleged fire protection deficiencies.

“Violent clap for the state government”

The SPD parliamentary group in the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia sees its assessment at the time confirmed. “At that time, the building minister, Scharrenbach, practically bent the building law into shape,” said Deputy Chairman Sven Wolf.

Mona Neubaur, state chairwoman of the Greens in North Rhine-Westphalia, sees the decision of the administrative court as “violent gossip for the state government” and it becomes clear that “the clearing of the Hambach Forest was solely politically motivated.” Not only the building minister, but also the interior minister Reul now has to explain herself, so Naubaur.

According to the ruling, the building ministry only wanted to drive out opponents of lignite

Strong police forces and staff from the energy company RWE then immediately put the evacuation into action and removed the tree houses that had been built by activists over the years. According to the judgment, the instruction of the ministry clearly served to drive out opponents of lignite.

The appeal is initially not permitted. However, those involved can lodge a complaint with the OVG Münster.

Greta Thunberg generated international interest

The Hambach Forest, which lies on the edge of the lignite open-cast mine, was and is a symbol of the conflict between climate protectors and the coal industry. In 2018, the environmental activist Greta Thunberg visited the Hambach Forest and brought the forest area to international attention. Thunberg criticized Germany at the time for what they saw as a late phase out of coal.

Note: In the first version of this post we wrote that the eviction was two years ago. That’s wrong, it took place in 2018, three years ago. We apologize for the mistake.

Source: wdr.de

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