Hundreds protest outside Tesla's German factory May 12, 2024

The latest round of protests has been taking place since Wednesday (JOHN MACDOUGALL)

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Hundreds protest outside Tesla's German factory

More than a thousand environmentalists protested outside the Tesla factory near Berlin on Saturday, police said, a day after some of them tried to force their way into the factory.

The protesters, accompanied by a large police contingent, displayed anti-Tesla and anti-capitalist banners surrounded by a strong police presence. The protest organizers estimated the number of demonstrators at around 2,000.

Although there were scuffles between some of the demonstrators and the police at the start of Saturday's protest, the situation quickly calmed down, noted an AFP journalist.

The activists have been fighting plans to expand the plant in Gruenheide, which was set to open in 2022 after an arduous two-year approval and construction process marked by administrative and legal obstacles.

They comprise a collective of campaigning organizations, including Extinction Rebellion and other local groups, and the latest round of protests has been underway since Wednesday.

On Friday, police said they had expelled several groups of activists who tried to enter the factory. There were injuries on both sides, a police spokesman said, without giving figures.

Protests against the factory have escalated since February, and in March the factory was forced to halt production after an alleged arson attack on nearby power lines, claimed by a far-left group.

A week later, Tesla boss Elon Musk visited the site to lend his support to the team and denounce what he said was the work of “eco-terrorists”.

Tesla wants to expand the site by 170 hectares (420 acres) and increase production by up to one million vehicles a year to feed Europe's growing demand for electric cars and take on rivals moving away from combustion engine vehicles.

The plant already occupies around 300 hectares and employs around 12,000 people. It produces the Model Y sports utility vehicle, Tesla's flagship model for the European market.

But the Gruenheide site, southeast of the German capital, is close to a protected forest and there are concerns about water use.

“People living here are losing their livelihoods because they no longer have drinking water,” said Katja Kuehn, a 49-year-old activist. “The quality of the water is deteriorating.”

“Globally, we also know that we don't need more electric cars,” she said, adding that what was needed was a different way of thinking about mobility.

Residents voted against the project by 60% in a non-binding vote in February.

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