There are still two of them, the activists who have been in the trees of the Sterrebos for more than a week now. Protesting against the expansion of VDL Nedcar.
The car manufacturer wants to build where the trees are, but the activists are against that. Meanwhile, the resistance from Nedcar against the occupation is growing.
Also read: Forest occupier has to pee and is eventually arrested
arrested
The mayor of Sittard-Geleen, Hans Verheijen, does not think it is chic that one of the activists was arrested on Wednesday evening while she was doing her business on the ground: “I do not think it is completely neat. Someone who does his business and then grabs the collar. At the same time, it is also understandable because the people who stay there know that they are not allowed to be there.”
Safety
Why the activists are not arrested has to do with safety, says Verheijen in L1mburg Central: “To get them out safely, you have to go into the forest with large equipment. The person also has to be removed safely, which is a very big operation.” The mayor is trying to make the action as orderly as possible: “As long as there are no public order problems, there is no immediate reason to intervene.”
Also read: Mayor in conversation with VDL: ‘Incomprehension for this action’
To care
The two remaining protesters have now been in the forest for almost a week. Verheijen is therefore regularly concerned: “They stay in a poplar forest, these are trees that can just blow over in a strong wind. The two that are still left, which I know through the negotiators, are doing well.”
There are now eighteen activists from the trees. Some of them had hypothermia or were disoriented, says the mayor. For the time being, he does not want to intervene harshly: “I am not a bully, the municipality of Sittard-Geleen is not an unfriendly municipality. People can make clear why they are against the cap. I also stated: you entered it voluntarily, you will also get there. voluntarily. Until the time comes when the judge has spoken.”