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.
A recent poll suggested that 60 percent of local residents voted against the 50-hectare expansion. Wired.
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After this, a group of protestors camped in the forest.
Another focal point of opposition was the environmental impact of mining lithium, which is 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.
The day of protest was attended by a considerable number of people from all over Germany
A video shared online captured chaotic scenes of protesters clashing 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 could not break 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, “Something very strange is happening because Tesla is the only car company that has been 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 that the disturbances stopped. Police estimated that hundreds of people were injured during the demonstration.