UPDATE - Environmental activists try to storm Tesla’s Berlin factory to halt expansion plans

UPDATES WITH STATEMENTS FROM POLICE, ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS, REVISES HEADLINE

By Anadolu staff

BERLIN (AA) - German environmental activists tried to occupy Tesla’s Berlin factory on Friday, in order to stop the electric car maker’s plans to expand its manufacturing plant.

Hundreds of activists gathered in Grunheide, near Berlin, and marched toward the factory shouting slogans such as “capital is behind the climate crisis, the fight for liberation is international” and “change your diet for the climate, eat the rich!”

The police used pepper spray to drive back the crowd, but dozens of protesters broke through police lines and reached the fences of the factory. At least three police officers were injured during the scuffles, and several protesters were arrested, handcuffed and taken into police vans.

Brandenburg police said environmental activists could not enter the factory building, and they were pushed back by police officers.

Several reports claimed that some people managed to enter the Tesla factory site. "This is not the case," the police said in a statement on social media.

“We have been able to prevent the intrusion so far. There were only some people in front of the site, and they were pushed back,” the statement said.

Environmental groups have been protesting for months against Tesla’s plans to expand its Berlin factory, which they say will lead to the clearing of 100 hectares (247 acres) of forest.

Tesla’s Gigafactory is located in a drinking water protection area, and protesters are saying that it is posing a great risk to groundwater through possible pollutant leaks or accidents.

Disrupt, the group that tried to occupy the Tesla factory, accused the police of using massive violence – both physical and psychological – against environmental activists.

“The police are protecting corporate interests, not the needs and safety of people,” the group said on X, and vowed to continue its protest actions in the coming days.

“Despite all attempts at intimidation, activists have shown today in various places that protest works. Production (at Tesla factory) is still at a standstill,” they said.

During protests on Friday, several environmental groups blocked roads leading to the Tesla factory, by staging sit-ins and chaining themselves together, and resisting arrest without violence.