Capa Grove under threat: Over 2,000 people demonstrated on Thursday evening against its sale to RB Leipzig

Leipzig’s environmental policy has always been rather weak in recent years. People were happy to rest on the back of the fine-sounding word ‘compensation’, even though this ‘replacement’ usually took place somewhere else – often even outside the city limits – and therefore did absolutely nothing to benefit biodiversity or climate protection within the city itself. But with the proposal to put the small copse on Capastraße up for sale to RB Leipzig, the Leipzig Property Office has finally crossed a line. More than 2,000 people demonstrated on Thursday, 25 June, against the sale of the copse.

Ultimately, this would mean that the small woodland – which was planted 30 years ago specifically as compensation – would then be cleared to make way for new training grounds for RB Leipzig. At the request of the Mayor for Economic Affairs, the City Council was due to decide at short notice at the forthcoming council meeting on 1 July whether the city could sell the woodland to RB. Due to the protests, the decision has been postponed until September for the time being. Ökolöwe e.V. warns that the city and RB would thereby destroy an important part of the ecological corridor linking the northern and southern floodplain forests.

“This woodland is non-negotiable! Once cleared, the connection between the floodplain forests will be severed forever,” warns Ökolöwen’s managing director, Tino Supplies. With banners and chants, the demonstrators emphasised their demand for the preservation of the woodland.

Ökolöwe e.V., as part of a broad coalition of Leipzig’s environmental organisations, had called for the demonstration together with BUND Leipzig, NABU Leipzig, Fridays for Future Leipzig, Greenpeace Leipzig, Initiative Stadtnatur, NuKLA e.V., Wildvogelhilfe Leipzig, Ornithologischer Verein zu Leipzig and Leipzig pflanzt, and appealed to the Lord Mayor and the city council groups not to sell the woodland to RB Leipzig and to protect it permanently

“Capi stays!”, the new rallying cry against the clearing of the copse on Cottaweg

With over 2,000 participants who had gathered despite the 35-degree heat, environmental organisations and members of the public sent a strong message on Thursday evening. The opening rally took place right outside the gates of the fairground. Following a sunny march past the copse to Lindenauer Markt, the follow-up rally was held there.

There, Martin Hilbrecht, co-chair of the Leipzig regional group of BUND, made it clear once again: “The actual compromise was reached back in 2011, when we agreed to the already controversial site for the construction of the current training centre, on the condition that the small wood – which is now under threat – could be allowed to develop freely as a compensation area. We urgently call on RB Leipzig to honour this compromise and to consistently implement its own sustainability goals in this instance as well.”

The proposal had already been rejected by a majority vote in the Climate Protection Advisory Board on Wednesday. BUND Leipzig took away from the meeting, in particular, that whilst an alternative site for the Kleinmesse on Richard-Lehmann-Straße might be conceivable, meeting the site requirements would involve considerable costs and would therefore not be an option for the city. BUND is not convinced by this.

“In view of advancing climate change, we cannot afford to lose any more woodland within the city limits,” explains board member René Quittenbaum. “Every euro we earn from the sale will cost us many times that amount in the future.”

Martin Hilbrecht made a clear statement to the City of Leipzig at the demonstration: “If in doubt, we’ll take legal action. We’ve already done this successfully with the Hambach Forest and thus saved the woodland.” Finally, he sounded the movement’s battle cry – just as with the Hambach Forest –: “Capi stays!” A powerful phrase that was immediately taken up by all those present.