Squatted trees Treehouse village exists since five days

Freiburg, 24 .10.1996. Twelve treehouses are to be found in airy heigth in Freiburg in the "Konrad Guenther" Park. Exactly where presently you see oaks aged up to 300 years, the german goverment is planning to build a four lane motorway-like road. Freiburgs main mayor - Dr. Rolf Boehme - tries to play down the planned link between Breisach (near the French border) and Ulm as a bypass. So his behavior in this case results in his - although unwillingly - patronship of the BÖHMischE Dörfer (villages) GmBh (Gemeinschaft mit Baumhäusern - solidarity with treehouses). With their treehouses the environmentalists want to prevent the constructing of the 7,5 km long part of the road, which will cost 618 Mio. DM.

The costs for the road construction are supposed to be prefinanced privatly“, explains the speaker of the BÖHMischE Dörfer, Stephan Muth. It is unbarable, that environmentally friendly alternatives havn't been taken into consideration only because the financing concept is missing, critisises Muth. The German government only pays for the hugh projekt of four lane B 31 East new. The Bundesrechnungshof (the highest finacial administration) thinks that the planned form of private prefinancing is against the constitution and will cause an increase in construction costs of about 30%. Freiburg environmental organisations are proposing environmentally friendly alternatives since 23 years, since the planning for the road started. But the alternatives would have to be paid by the municipality itself.

Because so far none of the court cases against the road had any succes, the neighbours of the future road see the occupation of the trees as their last chance. "With non violent but persistant resistance we will prevent that the "B31 East new" can be built. All the treetops are connected so we can move between the trees much like on the ground and the treehouses are equipped to stay for a longer period of time. There is no spot in this area (1500 m²) where a rope could be cut without the whole system becoming unstable and endangering the inhabitants of the tree." , says one of the professional tree climbers.

The support of the population has been big from the very start. Every day people donate big amounts of food and even prepared meals. Other donations inlcude construcitn material like wood pannels, ropes and tarpaulins. Many neighbours offer sleeping and warmup possibilities. "The support of the population is overwelming and the memory of succesful environmental actions rises again", concludes Muth.

Attention editors: More information, inlcuding black and white pictures directly out of the treetop under No. 0049-0171-8123974. TV material can be ordered under 0049-761-709512 or - 14 (fax)

 BÖHMschE Dörfer GmBh - Gemeinschaft mit Baumhäusern
 
 

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