Budapest City Park Activists Fight For Trees

  • 5 Jul 2017 8:14 AM
Budapest City Park Activists Fight For Trees
Environmentalists hoping to preserve trees in Budapest’s City Park chained themselves to excavators as construction company Városliget prepared to clear areas near the planned Museum of Ethnography.

Activists braved tear gas as they broke through a police line.

The state project company Városliget had announced that it was going to replant two older trees in the park.

However, Budapest city council member Antal Csárdi of LMP said the law only allows the replanting of trees with a diameter of less than 35cm. Városliget’s action in trying to replant 100-year-old trees is therefore illegal, he added.

LMP is considering whether to report the police to prosecutors, arguing that the police are protecting those who commit illegal acts rather than those who protest against them, Csárdi told reporters.

Replanting the two old trees is only a show, as Városliget has in reality “condemned them to death,” declared 14th District deputy mayor Rebeka Szabó of the Dialogue party.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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