Nearly five hundred small trees recently planted by the Save the Sterrebos action group at the VDL Nedcar car factory in Born appeared to have disappeared yesterday afternoon. To the anger of the working group, the “memorial oak” was also removed.

“First, an ancient forest was cut down for nothing. Now people who are trying to restore nature to some extent are given another kick,” the working group said in a statement. L1 News.

The auto plant moved the trees. A company spokesman said: “The seedlings planted by the activists were carefully planted in the compensation area.”

For more than two years, the battle has been escalating for Stiribus, an ancient forest area next to the VDL Nedcar site. The car factory wanted to expand with a production hall, and after a long legal battle, it obtained permission to build it on the forest site. The action group opposed logging by living in self-built treehouses. In the end, the police intervened.

The automobile plant was never able to expand production. Most of the employees were recently laid off.

Three weeks ago, 38 activists planted new trees at the site of the felled Sterebus. These were seedlings (young trees) of maple, birch, ash and beech trees. “A large oak tree has been planted, as a kind of memorial oak that represents the forest that was cut down, but also for all the layoffs that have occurred,” a spokesman for the labor group said at the time.

“Now we come here and see that everything has disappeared,” says Paula Wilders from the action group. “A very rude and clumsy act.”

According to VDL spokesman Nedcar, only trees were moved: “The tree buds were planted by activists in the area where the poplar forest is located, not in Sterrebos. The poplar forest is anyway for temporary use and, as is known, has little natural value and is “Dedicated to timber production. As long as we do not need the poplar forest area to expand our company, that area is leased as a field to farms. The trees can remain in the compensation area.”

It is not clear where the “memorial oak” went.