Vote Tesla-Expansion approved 

The municipality of Grünheide has approved the controversial development plan of the US manufacturer. That may cause trouble.

Following a vote by the municipality representatives of Grünheide in favor of expanding the Tesla factory, opponents of the plans want to broaden their protest and examine legal means. Conversations with several conservation associations were already underway, said Steffen Schorcht, spokesperson for the Citizens' Initiative Grünheide, on Friday (17.5.). With these, they wanted to explore a possible lawsuit. With the cooperation, the initiative relies on the associations' expertise in species and water protection.

The municipality representatives of Grünheide decided on Thursday by majority on the controversial development plan and an urban development contract with the US electric car manufacturer. Tesla wants to expand its site with a freight station and logistics areas. The environmental activists see significant environmental risks in the plans, among other things because the site is located in a water protection area. They are also opposed to the impending deforestation of the forest.

"Turning off the tap for Tesla" wants to intensify protests

Further initiatives opposing Tesla announced on Friday that they want to continue and even intensify their protests. They now want to discuss how to proceed, said a spokeswoman for the alliance initiative "Turn off the tap for Tesla." But one thing was certain: there would be further protest. More and more people were getting to know the problems in Grünheide. She suspected, therefore, that the protest was growing and the outrage was increasing after the decision, said the spokeswoman.

The group of forest occupiers at the Tesla factory in Grünheide had already announced that in the event of a decision by the municipal representatives in favor of the expansion, they would continue the protest camp. "We might stay throughout the summer," said a spokesperson for the "Stop Tesla" initiative on Friday. An extension of the assembly beyond May 20th had already been applied for.

The action alliance "Disrupt Tesla" also hinted at further actions against Tesla on Friday. They want to sort themselves out first for concrete plans. "Disrupt Tesla" had implemented several protest actions in Brandenburg last week. Among other things, they stormed Neuhardenberg airfield. Tesla new cars are temporarily stored there. According to media reports, the activists smeared some cars with paint there.

The dispute about the expansion has been partly fierce for a long time. Unknown perpetrators set fire to a power mast on an open-access field in March, which is part of the power supply for the Tesla factory in Grünheide, Brandenburg. Due to a power outage, car production was frozen for almost a week.

Last week, activists tried to storm the Tesla site. The police were able to prevent this. According to the police, 76 criminal complaints were recorded during this weekend of protest and 23 demonstrators were temporarily detained.