Grünheide: Protesters at a Tesla factory clash with police in Germany

Hundreds of climate protesters clashed with police in Germany after attempting to storm the Tesla factory near Berlin.

Several people were injured, including three police officers, during Friday’s demonstration against the planned expansion of the electric car giant’s only European factory.

Police made several arrests and prevented activists from accessing the center.

Activists have been camping in the woods of Grünheide, in the state of Brandenburg, since February, claiming that Tesla’s plan to double the size of its factory would harm the environment.

On Friday, protesters blocked a nearby highway and disrupted train service by sitting on the tracks, police said.

There was also a sit-in on a country road near the factory.

Images posted on social media showed hundreds of people, many wearing blue caps and waving blue flags, running towards the site to try to gain access.

A video, verified by the BBC, shows demonstrators breaking through the police cordon and entering the factory grounds, located around 30 kilometers from the capital.

They can be seen heading towards an outlying building located on the northeast corner of the Gigafactory grounds.

Police confirmed that protesters attempting to enter the facility were prevented and several people were taken into custody.

Tesla said earlier this week that the site would be closed for the day due to the protest, with employees reportedly allowed to work from home.

In a post on his social media platform X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk also said the group failed to break into the facilities.

“Why are the police letting left-wing protesters go so easily?” Musk wrote in another post.

The group Disrupt Tesla had called for mass protests against the expansion between May 8 and 12.

Speaking to the Reuters news agency on Friday, Disrupt Tesla spokesperson Ole Becker said the protesters aimed to draw attention to the “environmental destruction” in Grünheide.

Some activists have for months occupied part of the forest that should be cleared for the factory expansion, building tree houses and erecting signs in opposition.

Known as the Gigafactory, the factory currently employs around 12,000 people and manufactures around 500,000 cars per year.

Production had to be briefly halted in March after a power outage caused by a suspected arson.

The far-left activist group known as the Volcano Group claimed responsibility.