Several people were injured on Friday May 10 in Germany during clashes between the police and several groups of demonstrators who came to protest against the extension of the Tesla factory in Grünheide, near Berlin.
The mobilized people, masked and wearing blue caps, attempted to enter the premises of the American manufacturer of electric vehicles, according to images filmed by Reuters, before being pushed back by the police. A police spokesperson reported to Agence France-Presse (AFP) injuries among the ranks of the demonstrators and among the police, without being able to quantify them. Protesters also damaged Tesla vehicles at a nearby storage site using paint and pyrotechnics, a law enforcement spokesperson said.
The group behind the rally, Disrupt Tesla, says expanding the factory would harm the environment. The American billionaire wants to expand the Gruenheide factory by 170 hectares in order to double production, to reach one million electric vehicles per year. This “gigafactory”, Tesla’s only one in Europe, already occupies around 300 hectares, on which around 12,000 people work. This is where the “Model Y”, Tesla’s flagship SUV for the European market, comes from.
The environmental defense associations Extinction Rebellion, NABU and Robin des Bois were represented. The demonstrators began a long weekend of actions on Wednesday, notably establishing a camp not far from the factory. “Why are the police letting left-wing protesters get away with it so easily? », Reacted Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, on the social network X which belongs to him.