Police operation
Clearing of the Fechenheimer forest continues
Officials of a special task force (SEK) of the police abseil a tree squatter from a tree house. photo
© Boris Roessler/dpa
On the second day, special forces abseiled from cranes to get activists out of the trees. At least five are still waiting.
The clearing and clearing of the Fechenheimer forest in the east of Frankfurt is progressing. According to the police, the operation will continue on Friday. At least five activists are still in the forest on the outskirts of Frankfurt, which is to be cleared for a motorway connection. “All in all, today’s day of operation was again peaceful and without injuries,” the police summed up on the evening of the second day of operation.
With frosty temperatures on Thursday, the focus was on the higher tree houses and other constructions in the treetops. “More than half of the tree houses and structures were cleared during the day, and people were safely brought to the ground,” the police reported after the end of the operation.
Clearing for a motorway connection
The opponents of the Riederwald tunnel planned there had reaffirmed their resistance at the start of the evacuation on Wednesday. The police announced that they would follow the principle of “safety first” during the evacuation. The area is to be cleared in order to connect the A66, which previously ended right next to it, to the A661.
The police used cranes and special height intervention teams on Thursday morning to evict the activists. The special forces were lifted over the treetops with a crane jib and abseiled from there hanging on a steel cable to the level of the tree squatters, who were around 40 meters above the ground. “The highest structure in the operation room, the “Highpod”, has been cleared,” the police tweeted at noon.
Tree houses are demolished
On the other side of the forest, unoccupied tree houses were demolished in parallel. According to witnesses, five tree houses and a pedestal were left at midday. Parallel to the clearance, the clearing work continued on Thursday, and a construction road was leveled. The police had cordoned off the area extensively. Onlookers in the restricted area were asked to leave the fenced area.
Several people had already been brought out of the forest on Wednesday. Parallel to the clearance, the first trees were felled. On Wednesday, 3 preliminary investigations and 18 administrative offense proceedings were initiated. Ten people were taken into custody and some released “after the police measures”. On Thursday, seven people were temporarily taken into custody. Five people were provisionally arrested – among other things, because of trespassing, resistance and missing personal details.
According to the police, the A66 will probably remain closed between the Bergen-Enkheim and Maintal junctions until Sunday evening. According to Autobahn GmbH, the crane is to be dismantled on Friday and a temporary gravel road expanded.
The activists commented on the police operation on Thursday with ambivalence: At first glance, it looks like “the police would carry out the evacuation according to the motto “safety before speed”, said a spokeswoman. “If you take a closer look, however, you can clearly see the negligent behavior of the police.” One person is in the hospital but is “ok”.