Duisburg (dpa / lnw) - About 100 climate activists and residents protested against the felling of old trees in a residential street in Duisburg on Saturday. An activist stuck his hand to a work machine, a woman climbed up a lantern, a police spokeswoman said. A technical task force released the man from the machine. The 23-year-old was taken into police custody because he had resisted being sent off. The woman was taken from the lantern and taken to a hospital in an ambulance because she complained of foot pain.
Overall, the demonstration was peaceful, said the police spokeswoman. Hundreds of police officers ensured that the tree felling work ran smoothly. Numerous residents stayed behind the barriers along the road and watched as the trees were felled.
According to a report in the "Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung" (WAZ), a dispute ignited between residents and the Duisburg administration on the trees on Wedauer Strasse. The city is having around 25 plane trees felled for an upcoming renovation of the road, but wants to plant replacement trees. A collection of signatures and an online petition, each with several thousand signatories to save the old plane trees, were unsuccessful.
