Overview
- About 200 police officers removed activists from the Osthang on Thursday, enabling tree felling and site access for construction preparation next week.
- Mayor Hanno Benz said permits are secured and the project, decided in 2016, will now proceed toward building the roughly €20 million facility.
- Police dismantled barricades and used cranes to bring protesters down from trees, with authorities later reporting the discovery of an empty propane cylinder studded with nails.
- Activists and the OHA association contest the project on cultural and ecological grounds, citing the loss of over 40 of roughly 130 trees and reported presence of the protected alpine newt.
- The city says it offered an alternative site for OHA, but officials report the association has rejected key terms of the proposed use agreement, while local Greens urge shaping the venue as a participatory culture center.