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#HambacherForest: Cops threatened to destroy the memorial for #Steffen , “except it is being removed before”

Yesterday the evictions in Hambacher Forest continued. Cops evicted Beechtown and Cozytown. Cops threatened to destroy the memorial for Steffen, “except it is being removed before”. In the tree house village Kleingarten Verein some of the tree houses are still occupied and Lorien is also still standing.

Published by Enough is Enough. Written by Riot Turtle. Image above by 

Note: Enough is Enough is not organizing any of these events, we are publishing this text for people across the US and Europe to be able to see what is going on and for documentation only.

Many cops arrived just before 08:00am in cops in Beechtown and Cosytown yesterday morning. There Bambule was re-occupied and waited to be evicted for the second time. 

At 08:40 an eviction order was read in Beechtown, at the same time more and more cops came to Punk-Pod in Lorien.

While cops on the ground threatened to destroy the memorial for Steffen in Beechtown, “except it is being removed before”, the propaganda channel of the cops confirmed that the memorial for Steffen has to be removed. They “offered” that activists can call them and remove the memorial temporarily because they have to enforce measures (meaning evict) in Beechtown (Tweets below). A total lack of respect for Steffen, his family and his friends.

Activists were forced to temporarily remove the memorial to another place in the forest, so cops could continue their destructive operation in Beechtown. Four people took care of the memorial.

It was hard for supporters and other people to come into the forest and support. At the entrance to the gravel pit, only press was allowed to go into the forest. After an ID check, a ban for the premises was immediately issued to the others. The cops also threatened all people without a press card who wanted to enter the forest with custody.

The cops evicted Beechtown and Cozytown and started to remove barricades that protected Lorien. More than 50 people started at blockade in Lorien, tripods with people in hammocks were hanging between them.

An excavator approached a barricade in front of Lorien with many people sitting behind it. The excavator was forced to retreat by an individual who abseils from a traverse above it. (Video in the tweet below)

In the early afternoon cops forced people who were on the way to the Hambi camp to undress themselves during police controls. While restistance is stiff, it is still very peaceful. A miracle after all police violence, humiliation by cops and the lack of respect for Steffen’s memorial. Militant attacks only took place outside of the forest. Lifting ramp supplier Boels was attacked several times in the past days. 

The cops were still busy evicting Beechtown and Cozytown. And again the cops showed their disrespect for the memorial for Steffen. It was carried away again. This time by cops.

Punkpod was evicted and the cops came closer and closer to Lorien. Many BFE cops came to Lorien, last barricades on the paths were cleared with a harvester. Shortly after 15:00 more than 50 people started to protect Lorien with a human chain. Soon people builded a few barricades between the cops and the human chain. The standoff lasted for hours. (Tweet below, maddock should have been hammock)

The cops now started to search people at Buir train station. They were especially looking for climbing gear. They did everything they could to keep supporters out of the forest. At 16:35 the cops evicted the last activist in a tree house in Cozytown.

At 17:00 the cops were evicting a tripod on the road that leads to Lorien. This was a new tripod that had been build over night. The old tripod next to the monopod was still standing.

In the Kleingarten verein tree house village, 4 treehouses are still standing. The eviction of Beechtown and Cozytown and the standoff at Lorien took to much of their capacity.

At lorien people did everything they could to stop the cops. Two people even threw themselves in front of a harvester, which was clearing barricades.

Activists rebuilded the memorial for Steffen in the late afternoon, after cops ended their eviction operation in Beechtwon and Cozytown. Seven activists were detained during the evictions there.

But some people were still keeping the cops busy and played cats and mouse with them in the trees at Cozytown.

In Essen there was a vigil in solidarity with Hambacher forest at the RWE tower and in the forest cops ended their eviction operation for the day. Lorien and 4 tree houses at Kleingarten Verein are still standing and people really gave the cops a hard time at Lorien on Tuesday. 

Today, Wednesday, the cops will continue with evictions. But even if the occupations are all evicted people will not give up to fight for the forest. The cops have a major capacity problem in the coming weekend and many people will go to Hambacher Forest for a creative walk… At October 6 there will be a huge demo.

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