Police in Hesse have been cracking down on protests by environmental activists since early this morning. They occupy a plot of forest to protect the trees from being cut down. Gravel and sand will be mined there.
As police announced on Wednesday, officers have been busy dismantling a protest camp in the forest near Langen (Offenbach) since early morning. Environmental activists from the group Forests Instead of Asphalt built it in the summer of 2024 to protect trees southeast of the Langener Waldsee from being cut down. There are currently around 50 activists in the camp.
It is assumed the eviction will be peaceful, a police spokesperson told HR. Officers will “track people and take them off the premises.” There were around ten environmental activists at the location, as reported by HR journalists.
According to officials, the protesters had to be taken out of the trees when it was light. Some activists have signaled their willingness to climb down from the trees themselves. Operations start at 04.30.
The safety of everyone involved is the focus of this action, police said. “Protests are lawful, but must always remain peaceful and law-abiding – that is the clear expectation of the police, who pay special attention to transparency and communication in their operations.” Anyone who violates official orders must take appropriate action.
Clearing has been permitted since 2022
A resident who identified himself as Ahorn told HR on Tuesday: “Residents are preparing for eviction.” It is up to each individual to decide how far he will go.
Matthias Rohrbach of the Langener Bannwald Action Alliance assured: “As an action alliance, we will not call for violence. If Bannwald falls, then with flags flying – but peacefully!”
It may have been clear to activists that evictions would eventually occur. Since 2013, Sehring’s company has received permission to cut down the affected forest to further mine gravel and sand, despite the fact that the forest is a specially protected forest. The Darmstadt regional council revoked the status of this forest. The Federal Administrative Court confirmed the legality of this move in 2022.
It is not yet known when land clearing will begin.
City: Camps not included constitutional compatible principle
The city of Langen saw its rights as an owner violated by the protest camp. It was recently said that the camp could not be reconciled “with democratic and constitutional principles”. The city only warned pedestrians about the area in late October. “The judge advised hikers and those seeking relaxation to avoid areas around illegal camps of forest encroachers,” the city government said. Public order police cordoned off a large area around the camp.
The forest itself was also badly damaged by camp residents. Nails and wood screws were driven into many trees, and amphibian protection fences were also destroyed. The damage caused is estimated at more than 200,000 euros.
Police officer in Langener Bannwald
Activist: “Quality of life will decline”
“Just because one forest is cut down doesn’t mean other forests will be cut down too,” activist Ahorn said on Tuesday. He and other tree residents have felt a lot of solidarity from residents in recent months. “Every forest, every tree is important. Despair is not an option.”
From the perspective of environmentalists, forests that are capable of fighting global warming should not be cut down when the climate crisis is caused by human activities causing the weather to become more extreme. This also relates to the quality of life of people in and around Langen, says Rohrbach: “This is a forest with old trees that are used for local recreation and water production. The quality of life will continue to deteriorate.”
economic interests valued higher than environmental protection
The Sehring company has been mining gravel and sand in the region for decades – this eventually created the Langener Waldsee, one of the largest mine lakes in the region. Since 2013, Sehring has received permission to log about 64 acres southeast of the lake in order to extract more raw materials from the ground. About half of it has been cleaned.
The company’s managing director, Stefan Sehring, reacted angrily to the protests in the summer of 2024. Activists trampled on the law and behaved anti-democratically. As a company in the raw materials industry, you are still allowed to operate in Germany.
The Darmstadt regional council has justified its approval of deforestation in highly vulnerable forests by referring to economic interests: When compared with environmental protection, “the public interest in a safe supply of local raw materials for the Rhine-Main region outweighs it”.
On Monday, the city of Langen suffered defeat at the Darmstadt Administrative Court. He wanted to move the permanent action registered in solidarity with people in the protest camp to another location – 870 meters from the actual camp, as the court wrote. This constitutes “significant interference” and is therefore prohibited.
Broadcast: 1 o’clock, 12/11/25, 06:24
