About 800 protesters camped outside Tesla’s Gigafactory plant in Grueneheide, Germany on Friday, seeking to halt the expansion plan and its odious environmental impact.
And Elon Musk isn’t happy about it as his Tesla dream continues.
The expansion, which has been a contentious issue, drew criticism from Ole Becker, a spokesman for the protest organizing group Disrupt.
“A fight against this car factory is a fight against every car factory,” Becker said in a press release on the coalition’s website.
Disrupt’s press release further accused the Gigafactory of being built illegally and argued that its expansion would harm neighboring forests.
According to a recent poll, 60 percent of local residents voted against the 50-hectare expansion. Wired.
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A group of protestors has since camped in the forest.
Another focal point of opposition was the environmental impact of lithium mining, essential for the production of electric car batteries. According to Reuters, the demonstrators aimed to draw attention to the environmental damage caused by lithium extraction, which releases toxic chemicals and heavy metals into air, water and soil worldwide.
A large number of people attended the day of the demonstration from all over Germany
A video shared online captured chaotic scenes as protesters clashed with law enforcement as they tried to access the factory.
Responding to the footage, Musk assured that the facility’s security perimeter remained intact.
“The protesters were unable to breach the fence. There are still 2 intact fence lines around,” he wrote.
“Hint, it’s ‘National Protest Week’ in Germany, so there’s a lot of protests for various reasons.”
Musk was baffled by environmentalists’ decision to target Tesla.
He expressed his dismay, saying, “There’s something weird going on because Tesla is the only car company hit.”
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Musk openly criticized police laxity, asking, “Why do the police let left-wing protesters off so easily?”
Becker told CNN he experienced a lot of police torture at the protest, and a video posted on X shows police firing pepper spray at fleeing protesters. Dozens of protesters were arrested to ensure the disruptions stopped. Police estimated that hundreds of people were injured during the demonstration.
