“This worries me because it was clear that there was demonstration tourism,” says Brandenburg’s economics minister. picture alliance/dpa | Christophe Gateau
According to Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach, production at the Tesla factory in Grünheide should start again earlier than announced.
The electricity grid operator Edis reports that production could resume as early as Monday evening.
Steinbach criticizes demonstrations against the planned expansion of the electric car factory and speaks out against extending the tolerance of the protest camp.
After the attack in which the power supply was interrupted at the Tesla factory in Grünheide near Berlin, production could be resumed earlier than planned, according to Brandenburg’s Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach (SPD). “Today it looks like it won’t take until the end of the week, but that the power supply can be restored sooner,” said Steinbach on Monday morning on RBB Inforadio. It was previously announced that production would not start again until the end of this week. The RBB reported on Monday, citing the electricity network operator Edis, that production could resume as early as Monday evening. Steinbach praised the companies involved for “working in three shifts”.
Read too
Elon Musk has sued OpenAI: Now the AI company is defending itself and publishing his private emails
At the same time, he expressed criticism of the demonstrations against the planned expansion of the electric car factory, which also took place at the weekend. “This worries me because it was clearly evident that there was demonstration tourism,” said the minister. “We also experience this at the camp, where people from Lower Saxony, from Lützerath, from Hambacher Forst are there. At the moment, this whole thing is being hijacked from outside.” This does not correspond to the interests of the residents.
False arguments against Tesla continue to be used. “Those who are protesting there at the moment should then tell their fellow human beings very clearly that they want to continue to see increased truck traffic.”
In addition to the existing 300-hectare factory site, the electric car manufacturer is planning to build a freight yard, warehouses and a company kindergarten. To achieve this, more than 100 hectares of forest will be cleared.
Environmental activists protested against the expansion plans in Grünheide on Sunday, accompanied by police forces. There has also been an occupation of a forest near the factory for more than ten days. Steinbach spoke out on Monday in favor of not extending the camp’s tolerance beyond the middle of the month.
However, Tesla’s settlement also received support over the weekend: Some residents who support the company also took to the streets. There were sometimes verbal arguments between the two demonstration camps.