Enlarge image
Clearance in the Hambach Forest on June 23, 2020
Photo:
David Young / dpa
The tree houses in the Hambach Forest should not have been cleared in autumn 2018.
The Cologne Administrative Court has now announced a corresponding decision after a previous tree house resident sued.
The court ruled that the fire protection provisions mentioned at the time as justification had only been a pretext.
Ultimately, the action served to remove opponents of lignite from the Hambach Forest.
The verdict is not yet legally binding.
The NRW state government had instructed the city of Kerpen and the district of Düren to clear the tree houses that opponents of lignite had built over several years.
This came about in September 2018 with the support of a massive police force from all over Germany.
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.
pad / mxw / dpa
