State Forests HQ blocked in protest against logging of ancient woodland
PR dla Zagranicy
Victoria Bieniek
09.11.2017 18:52
Twenty-two people have been detained by police after environmental activists blocked Poland's State Forests headquarters in Warsaw on Thursday in protest against ongoing logging in the primeval Białowieża Forest in Poland's northeast.
Protesters outside State Forests' headquarters. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański.
In the evening police removed and wrote up the activists who at 9 am chained themselves to the building and to a concrete-filled barrel which they used to block the main door.
The protesters claimed State Forests loggers were breaking the law and violating a European Court of Justice decision.
The top European Union court in July issued a preliminary ban on logging in the forest, which is covered by the bloc's directives on birds and habitats.
But Malinowska said the court was yet to hand down a final decision, adding that a trial would start on 12 December.
Poland's environment ministry and State Forests claim logging is necessary to ensure safety in the forest and to eliminate a plague of the spruce bark beetle which feeds on trees in Białowieża. (vb)
Source: IAR