Protesters gathered at Hambach Forest near the western German city of Aachen on Saturday in the hope of saving what is left of the 12,000-year-old forest before it is felled for mining.

DW's environment correspondent Irene Banos Ruiz was at the protest and said thousands of people were demonstrating at the "Ende Gelände" or "End the Site" protest camp.

Read more: Hambach Forest: DW fact check

The main protest broke up into two groups, with one smaller group blocking a train carrying coal from the RWE mine by occupying the track, Ruiz reported.

The police tweeted that the occupation of the train track meant a water cannon had to be used against protesters.

Police said about 250 people had tried to access the open-cut mine and some were being taken into custody.

They also warned people to stay away from the edge of the mine due to landslides, adding that there was a serious risk to people's lives.

Protests escalate

German energy giant RWE bought the land Hambach Forest sits on in the 1970s but the company is required to preserve the forest as long as possible and clearing trees is only allowed when it is seen as essential to mining operations.

Read more: Is the destruction of Hambach Forest legal?

Protesters have occupied the area for the past six years, with some living in tree house structures. But as RWE prepares to fell the remaining forest, protests at Hambach have escalated.

Protesters rebuild tree houses

Police recently cleared 86 tree houses in an operation costing millions of euros, but withdrew from the forest after a court ban on further tree clearances. Activists have since rebuilt some of the tree houses and set up new barricades.

The court ban was put in place following a law suit filed by environmental group BUND, the German branch of Friends of the Earth.

In its lawsuit opposing the forest's clearance, BUND argues that the area falls under the EU's Habitats Directive because of its population of Bechstein's bats.

6 years of coal protest coming to an end at Germany's Hambach forest? Primal forest At the heart of Europe, in western Germany, near the border to France and Belgium, a scrap of ancient forest holds thousand-year-old trees along with abundant wildlife. But there's another species living there in the forest as well — our own.

6 years of coal protest coming to an end at Germany's Hambach forest? Life among the treetops About 150 people currently live in what's left of Hambach forest, many in makeshift tree houses. Although living in a tree house may appear idyllic, many of the environmental activists have uprooted their lives for the better part of six years — living without electricity and running water — to protect the forest, and take a stance against the power of the fossil fuel industry.

6 years of coal protest coming to an end at Germany's Hambach forest? Evictions begin Several hundred police officers accompanied RWE workers for protection as they visited the forest on Wednesday, September 5, to expel the protesters in preparation for clearing. Although the operation was mostly peaceful, one activist was arrested after resisting police.

6 years of coal protest coming to an end at Germany's Hambach forest? Nonviolent resistance Activists joke about their "dangerous weapons," such as an empty fire extinguisher. Just days before the police action on September 5, Herbert Reul, the interior minister for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, warned that police and RWE staff in the Hambach forest were dealing with "extremely violent left-wing extremists." Members of the protest group have denied Reul's description.

6 years of coal protest coming to an end at Germany's Hambach forest? Not the first forest confrontation Over the years, police have clashed with protesters in the Hambach forest. In 2017, police employed pepper spray to disperse protesters in advance of planned logging. The looming eviction is likely to result in the largest confrontation there yet.

6 years of coal protest coming to an end at Germany's Hambach forest? Trees for coal Here is the result of a recent RWE clearing campaign, which ran from October 2016 to March 2017. In the background, the smokestacks of the Niederaussem power station can be seen. With a CO2 output of more than 29 million tons yearly, this is Europe's third-dirtiest power plant. Due to massive toxic emissions such as mercury and sulfur, it is also considered Germany's second-most-toxic power plant.

6 years of coal protest coming to an end at Germany's Hambach forest? 'Critical turning point' for climate policy "Clumsy" has lived among the treetops in the Hambach forest since the resistance against the RWE coalmine project began in 2012. He believes the battle over the forest is a critical turning point for German climate policy, and the government's decision is one between "giving in to the lignite hardliners, [or] protecting our life support basis on this planet."

6 years of coal protest coming to an end at Germany's Hambach forest? Small forest with big stakes Only about 10 percent of the once sprawling Hambach forest has survived the mine's onslaught. What's left appears miniscule in comparison to the vast expanse of the mine, which already covers about 85 square kilometers (33 square miles). But environmentalists say the forest holds enormous ecological value, and is home to abundant and biodiverse ecology, including endangered animal species.

6 years of coal protest coming to an end at Germany's Hambach forest? Ever-hungry coal industry The Hambach mine, located between Aachen and Cologne, is Germany's largest open-cast mine. Here, RWE uses enormous excavators to extract brown coal, also known as lignite, from the earth. Lignite is among the fossil fuels that emit the most carbon dioxide when burned. What remains of Hambach forest is the last bastion in a long battle against the expansion of the mine.

6 years of coal protest coming to an end at Germany's Hambach forest? Save the forest, save the world Environmental activists have undertaken nonviolent resistance against the RWE coal mine expansion for more than six years. Through their actions, they claim to not only want to save the Hambach forest from destruction, but also send a message to the world about the dangerous consequences of prioritizing fossil fuel extraction over important ecological sites.

6 years of coal protest coming to an end at Germany's Hambach forest? Global support Activists from all over the world have supported the action by staying for days or weeks at a time. Over the past six years, activists have literally built up an alternative community within the forest. Although it is still unclear what exactly will happen in the struggle between the protesters and the fossil fuel giant, potential eviction is an ever-present possibility for the forest dwellers. Author: Charli Shield



law/jlw (AP, dpa)

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