Tesla gigafactory battlezone: Hundreds of activists conflict with police

Activists demonstrating against the planned expansion of Tesla‘s gigafactory near Berlin are locked in violent clashes with police today as some tried to rush the site after hundreds turned out in protest yesterday. 

Graphic images from the scene showed how officers equipped with riot gear were embroiled in a brutal fistfight with a sea of enraged demonstrators carrying flags and banners which read ‘disrupt capitalism, create future’.

One shocking clip saw a stampede of protesters charge across a field toward the officers, who responded in kind by spraying CS gas and beating the oncoming demonstrators with batons and reinforced gloves. 

Several were seen being dragged away with bloody noses and arrested as others continued to push back against the heavily armoured riot police, chanting slogans including ‘say it loud, say it clear – Elon Musk is not welcome here’. 

It is unclear whether any of the protesters have managed to gain access to the facility which was shut down for four days as of yesterday amid the demonstrations. 

This week’s protests were organised by Disrupt – an organisation that describes itself as ‘a coalition of groups’ pushing for a ‘just and solidarity-based world beyond capitalism’. 

They say Elon Musk‘s electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer is associated with ‘labour accidents, water scarcity, deforestation, environmental pollution and exploitation (in Berlin) and worldwide’.

MailOnline approached Tesla for comment. Musk is yet to comment on this week’s protests. 

Tesla late last year declared plans to extend into a nearby forest its Berlin-Brandenburg gigafactory in Gruenheide on the southeastern outskirts of the German capital.

The move is expected to enable the huge facility to churn out up to 1 million vehicles per year upon completion – but the plans have been met with fury.

Tesla’s ambitions to expand its German plant hit a roadblock in February when citizens voted against a motion to raze trees and make way for a larger site.

The premises then suffered an arson attack in March which forced an evacuation of workers and caused a power outage.

Unknown perpetrators were suspected of deliberately setting fire to a high-voltage transmission line, according to the Interior Ministry in the state of Brandenburg a move dubbed ‘extrem dumm’ by Musk. 

A month later the tech mogul subsequently announced layoffs of 10% of Tesla staff worldwide, claiming the ‘difficult decision’ would ‘enable us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle’.

‘There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done,’ the billionaire said, as cited in the memo, before thanking ‘everyone who is departing Tesla for their hard work over the years’. 

Rumors of a looming layoff had been spreading in recent months after Tesla asked managers to identify critical team members, paused some stock rewards and cancelled some employees’ annual reviews, according to tech publication Electrek.

Now, activists have flocked from all over Germany to take part in the protests at the Berlin site, supported by locals who claim the expansion not only threatens to cut down at least 50 hectares of forest, but would also add unsupportable stress to local groundwater reserves.

The EV maker declared yesterday morning the factory would be closed for four days, including a ‘one day planned production shutdown’ today.

No production activity is carried out at the factory on weekends and Thursday was a public holiday in Germany, meaning the facility will only cease production for one extra day despite the four-day closure. 

Tesla asked all employees who work at the plant to work from home today while the protests unfold, according to an email seen by German outlet Handelsblatt that the company sent staffers on Monday.

Production will begin again with the night shift on Sunday, Handelsblatt reported.

But it remains to be seen whether the factory will suffer any damage at the hands of protesters should they gain entry to the grounds. 

Tesla’s sales in the European Union fell 5% in the first quarter of this year from a year earlier, lagging the battery EV market’s 4% growth during the period, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers.