Treehouse protesters digging in

German activists living in treehouses to protect an ancient forest from being razed for a nearby coal mine on Thursday vowed to resist forced eviction by police, in a major escalation of the long-running environmental battle.

Hundreds of police officers descended on the area early in the morning, after local authorities ordered the Hambach Forest in western Germany cleared immediately citing fire hazards.

Dozens of protesters are holed up in about 60 treehouses, some as high as 25m off the ground.

The occupation began in 2012 and until now their presence had been tolerated.

But North Rhine-Westphalia premier Armin Laschet said late on Wednesday that this was an illegally occupied area and accused the protesters of being violent.

The activists, who are protesting against the expansion of energy giant RWE’s giant open-pit lignite mine, one of Europe’s largest, have called for a mass mobilisation by supporters in coming days.

“The destruction of Hambach Forest is intolerable,” Jan Puetz of Aktion Unterholz said in a joint statement with other activist groups.

“Starting this weekend, we will prevent the evacuation and the forest cutting by police and RWE with actions of mass civil disobedience.”

A live video streamed on the Spiegel Online website showed officers in a cherrypicker cutting down branches to gain access to the homemade structures. A large rescue air cushion was placed on the ground.

The David v Goliath battle has been intensifying for days after RWE announced its plans to clear half the forest’s remaining 200ha from mid-October. –